The antibody nirsevimab reduces hospitalization of children by 80% due to bronchiolitis

2024/02/15 Etxebeste Aduriz, Egoitz - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Osasuna
• Farmakologia
• Medikuntza

Nirsevimab monoclonal antibody is very effective in immunizing infants against respiratory syncytial virus. According to a study conducted in nine Spanish hospitals, this antibody prevented 80% of hospitalizations of infants affected by bronchiolitis.

Spain has pioneered testing the drug developed by Sanofi and AstraZeneca laboratories. In September 2023, children born from 1 April 2023 began to be immunized. The data obtained from the nine hospitals (five in the Valencian Community, three in Murcia and one in Valladolid) show a very good reception of the campaign, with a coverage of about 90% in the first three months.

Prior to Nirsevimabe, 3.2 out of every 100 children aged 6 months were expected to be hospitalized for respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis. And the disease can be dangerous, especially in children under 3 months. Now, the results clearly show that these new antibodies have significantly reduced hospitalizations of children by about 80%. The work has been published in the journal of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Eurosurveillance.