Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a significant threat to the health of infants and young children.  RSV is the primary cause of acute lower respiratory tract illness and hospitalization of infants. It is estimated that there are, worldwide, annually 33.8 million RSV infections in children under 5 years of age with 3.4 million infections requiring hospitalizations and 66,000 to 199,000 deaths. RSV infection is particularly dangerous in infants born prematurely, suffering from chronic lung conditions, or with congenital heart disease. In addition, infants with serious RSV infections are at considerably increased risk for asthma in later years. 

There are currently no RSV vaccines licensed for use in any population. Moreover, neonate vaccination would likely be ineffective due to their immature immune system and is potentially unsafe.  The only RSV preventative treatment existing for infants is marginally effective, extremely expensive, and only available for those at extraordinary risk.   Therefore, we propose to protect newborns from RSV infections through the passive transfer of protective maternal neutralizing antibodies in utero to the fetus after maternal immunization.  Natural RSV infection of mothers does not protect infants.  However, we propose to use a novel RSV vaccine candidate we have recently developed to immunize mothers.  Our vaccine candidate is unlike any previously tested and is far more effective than natural RSV infection or other RSV vaccine candidates in stimulating protective immunity. 

Vaccination of mothers could become a routine and inexpensive component of prenatal care. Therefore, our long-term goal is the development of a vaccine that can induce significant levels of maternal protective antibody that can be transferred to fetuses protecting neonates from RSV infection. Protection from RSV disease through our novel approach would immediately and significantly improve the health of infants, especially those at high risk, infants born prematurely or having other chronic conditions.