Babies should get recently approved drug for RSV, CDC says
U.S. health officials are recommending that babies get a recently approved drug to protect them against a respiratory virus Infants should get a recently approved drug to protect them against a respiratory virus that sends tens of thousands of American children to the hospital each year, U.S. Health officials said Thursday. An infection with RSV is a coldlike nuisance for most healthy people, but it can be life-threatening for the very young and the elderly. There are no vaccines for babies yet so the new drug, a lab-made antibody that helps the immune system fight off the virus, is expected to fill a critical need. The drug, developed by AstraZeneca and Sanofi, is expected to be ready in the fall before the RSV season, typically November through March. In the U.S., about 58,000 children younger than 5 are hospitalized for RSV each year and several hundred die. A panel of outside advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the one-time shot for infants bor...