Healthcare, Let’s breathe together: “Urgent to prevent RSV in newborns for ethics and sustainability”

The urgency of preventing infections from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) “in newborns derives from both ethical and economic reasons”. Being “an infection of the respiratory tract that can be characterized by severity to the point of putting the life of the newborn at risk”, it is clear that it can lead to “a strong burden for families who must, in the most serious cases, also resort to hospitalization in intensive care, with the invasiveness of the treatments that” could have “disabling outcomes even for the rest of the life of the little patient. Furthermore, the severe infection, involving the parents in direct hospitalization assistance, which sometimes lasts even 15-20 days, can also have economic implications because to the direct health costs” are added the “indirect costs due to the absence from work of one of the parents and any future absences in the case of a disabling condition, temporary or stabilized, that the disease could determine”. Thus Simona Barbagliapresident of the patients’ association Respiriamo insieme (respiraiamoinsieme.org), illustrates to Adnkronos the importance of preventing RSV infection, the leading cause of bronchiolitis and hospitalization in children under one year of age, by immunizing all newborns with effective tools available today such as monoclonal antibodies, but which risk not being potentially accessible and are not equally accessible throughout the country.

The prevention of RSV infections “must represent an essential point of reference for the National Health Service – adds Barbaglia – and must be guaranteed to all those who have the right to it at a national level, without inequalities. Unfortunately, to date, despite the availability of prevention tools and recommendations from both the scientific world and the Ministry of Health”, RSV prevention “has not yet been included in the national vaccination calendar”. The hope is therefore “that protection from this virus becomes a priority and can very soon find a place in the calendar of the National Prevention Plan”.

In detail, among the Regions that have taken action to be ready to provide immunization starting next fall, “only Valle d’Aosta, Lombardy, Tuscany, Veneto, Trento and Bolzano are there – observes Barbaglia – The risk of possible disparities is therefore real and the resistance, where present, is mostly due to the organization that often suffers from shortages or limitations of resources, both economic and personnel. By acting on these two factors, the critical issues could certainly be contained”. Certainly, however, “the lack of a national recommendation is slowing down the” homogeneous “access to these new prevention tools. But the implementation of all preventive measures – he underlines – will allow for a significantly lower number of cases of RSV infections in newborns with consequent freeing up places in intensive care, in addition to reducing the economic impact and ensuring better sustainability of the national and regional health systems”.

The national patient association Respiriamo insieme Aps “has been continuously and actively committed since 2014 to promoting and protecting the health of all people, adult and minor patients affected by respiratory, immunological, allergic and rare lung diseases – explains Barbaglia – with the aim of guaranteeing everyone access to the right treatment path and reducing the burden of the disease for patients and their families through support, advocacy, education and research”. This is also the context of the awareness campaign ‘It’s not as it seems’, launched last March in Rome, “which was also attended by the Director General of Prevention of the Ministry of Health, Francesco Vaia – he recalls – who announced on this occasion the release of the circular of the Ministry of Health with the prevention measures against RSV which was signed on the same day. The aim of our campaign, which will continue until October 2024, is precisely to shine a spotlight on this problem and outline important guidelines that lead to increasing information, knowledge, awareness and protection with respect to RSV and the risks for fragile patients, from newborns to the elderly, to people with pathologies”.

In addition to being “the leading cause of bronchiolitis and therefore hospitalization in children under one year of age, RSV infection – Barbaglia points out – is the cause of acute respiratory infections (ARI), asthmatic bronchitis and asthma in children, adolescents and young frail adults, exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and interstitial pneumonia with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in the elderly, especially in the presence of comorbidities, causing complications” that are also very serious. In this context, he highlights, “it is therefore necessary to raise awareness, inform the population at every location and occasion about the risks associated with this virus and the existing prevention tools. The healthcare world, both at the local level and in hospitals, must then be directly involved”.

“From our daily discussions with members or patients – concludes Barbaglia – a rather disappointing picture emerges regarding information on the preventive offer dedicated to them. It is therefore very important to intervene so that there are more and more campaigns and initiatives aimed at making known in a widespread way the opportunities for vaccination prevention and immunization, especially to fragile people such as children, newborns and the elderly, as well as those suffering from chronic respiratory diseases such as the people our association takes care of”.