New vaccine hopes for premmie lung infection
There are new vaccine hopes for Respiratory Syncytial Virus – one of the most common contributors to hospital admission for infants under one.
Queensland researchers are trialling a single-dose vaccine on preterm babies vulnerable to Respiratory Syncytial Virus, which could reduce hospitalisation rates after discharge.
RSV is one of the most common reasons for hospital admission in infants aged under one, and can lead to bronchiolitis followed by intubation or mechanical intubation. Premature babies who have chronic neonatal lung disease are particularly prone to lung infections.
“Preterm babies who go home on oxygen are much more likely to require admission to a paediatric intensive care unit for breathing support and are more likely to die of RSV infection than healthy term babies without underlying lung problems,” Pita Birch, director of neonatology at Mater Mothers Hospital in Brisbane where the trial is being held, said.
“If the trial is successful, the new vaccine will better protect babies against developing RSV infection compared with the current vaccine, and reduce hospitalisations, intensive care admissions and deaths,” he said.
While preterm babies currently require up to five doses of existing RSV vaccines at the start of the winter, the new vaccine requires only one dose. “The potential is that if the study is successful, and it’s a one-off dose, then could we expand that to provide a one-off injection at RSV season for all infants under one year of age?” Dr Birch said.
Researchers hoped to prove the vaccine was more effective than the current treatment, “not just because it keeps you protected over a longer period of time, but because it better simulates the baby’s own immune system in fighting off this virus”.
Gold Coast twins Adeline and Audrey Hockings, born 15 weeks early at the South Brisbane hospital, had chronic neonatal lung disease and were sent home on oxygen after 98 days in hospital. This made them high risk for RSV as their lungs had not recovered properly on discharge.
Mother Jennifer Hockings said she hoped by being part of the clinical trial, the girls could help other “teeny tiny babies like them in the future” who already have to endure so much in their first weeks and months of life.
“In hospital, they were on CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machines for … about 10 weeks, and then they were on the high flow and low flow oxygen and went home on home oxygen,” she said. “It was confronting when I first saw them. It’s pretty emotional to see them so small and vulnerable.”
Ms Hockings also said it would be hugely beneficial to cut down on the number of vaccines they were given.
“Being born at 25 weeks, there’s all sorts of things that have to get done to them. They had cannulas and they were having heel pricks. If we can cut down on four needles for them, that’d be nice,” she said.
New figures show RSV cases have skyrocketed over the past year in most Australian states.
In South Australia, for example, there were 3926 RSV cases in the first half of this year compared with 539 cases in the first half of last year.
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