Resp Care
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Review
Systematic review of the biology and medical management of respiratory syncytial virus infection.
Respiratory syncytial virus, the leading cause of serious upper and lower respiratory tract infection in infants and children, accounts for 125,000 hospitalizations and 450 deaths annually in the United States. It also may predispose to development of asthma later in life. Annual epidemics occur from November to April, and virtually all infants are infected by age 2. ⋯ The cost of the prophylactic antibody treatment is high; it is cost-effective for only the highest risk patients. Development of a vaccine remains far in the future. Application of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines is making both out-patient and in-patient therapy as effective and economical as possible.
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Ten million or more newborns worldwide each year need some type of resuscitation assistance. More than 1 million babies die annually from complications of birth asphyxia. Over the past 3 decades, neonatal resuscitation has evolved from disparate, word-of-mouth teaching methods to organized programs. ⋯ In this era of evidence-based medicine the most recent Neonatal Resuscitation Program guidelines were developed to provide recommendations based on the best currently-available science. A number of major proposals received considerable scrutiny during the evaluation process. Many areas of neonatal resuscitation still need to be studied.