Advances in research on human respiratory syncytial virus

Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) is a negative-sense and single-stranded RNA virus which belongs to the Pneumoviridae family, Orthopneumovirus genus. It is currently the leading cause of hospitalization in infants and children < 5 years of age. The infections of HRSV in adults, elderly and immunodeficiency patients are also increasingly recognized as a cause of severe respiratory disease. Unfortunately, no effective vaccine or treatment against HRSV is currently available. It has two subtype and multiple genotypes, which can result in different epidemiological feature. The aim of this review is to give a summary of HRSV etiology, epidemiology, vaccine and typing detection technique in order to better carry out HRSV epidemiological research. Also, this review can provides for the research of HRSV vaccine with important theoretical basis and provides reference for disease prevention and Surveillance.