Don’t take Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common infection in children and senior adults lightly. For, it can also infect nerve cells and trigger inflammation leading to nerve damage, a new Tulane University study has found.
Published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, the study is the first to prove that RSV can penetrate nerve cells and may provide the clearest link between RSV and reported neurological symptoms in children.
RSV has been previously detected in the spinal fluid of children with seizures. Additionally, 40% of RSV-positive children under the age of 2 have shown acute encephalopathy, brain damage that can result in confusion, memory loss or cognitive difficulties.
The findings underscore the potential long-term impacts of the disease, as well as the importance of preventative measures such as the two RSV vaccines approved by the FDA in 2023.
This is the most common respiratory virus in the first years of life as well as an impactful virus among the elderly. This adds a new dimension to the importance of RSV vaccines for both the elderly and mothers to protect their babies, said Dr. Giovanni Piedimonte, Tulane University vice president for research and professor of pediatrics, biochemistry and molecular biology.
Researchers studied the virus using 3D peripheral nerve cultures grown from stem cells and rat embryos. After finding they can be infected by RSV, researchers found RSV induced the release of chemokines — proteins that fight infections by controlling immune cells — and caused significant inflammation.
With low levels of RSV infection, the nerves became hyperreactive to stimulation. At higher levels, they observed a progressive degeneration of the nerve and increased neurotoxicity due to excess inflammation.