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@danluu@mastodon.social

2026-03-26 00:02 UTC

I've been dealing with a bad case of RSV. At one point, I said to someone, "at least this will help my immunity", but then I looked it up and it turns out getting RSV doesn't seem to give you much immunity to RSV. So much for that! https://academic.oup.com/jid/article-abstract/163/4/693/944323 And there's a theory that covid somehow reduces people's immunity to RSV below the already low levels found in pre-covid studies. Also, I wonder why the RSV vaccine is only approved for older adults and infants?

Replies (5)

  • @danluu hey, this is the exciting content, at least for me! my understanding is that vaccine approval is a cost/benefit decision based on how expensive a trial would be; so for RSV they only did it for "at risk" populations and didn't bother doing it for adults. there is definitely irrational decisionmaking in there, but i don't know who to blame

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  • @danluu Iirc, there are rsv vaccines for infants. They’re pretty new. We had a kid in 2023 and, while we were in the hospital, one of the nurses said “do you want an rsv vaccine for your baby? We just got them in last week.”

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  • @saethlin@hachyderm.io 2026-03-26 00:39

    @danluu You should email daniel@microbe.tv and maybe you'll be featured on the next TWiV clinical update: https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/?s=clinical%20update

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  • @jmason@mastodon.ie 2026-03-26 07:46

    @danluu as I understand it, the vaccines are restricted based on risk level -- RSV is more serious for people in those age ranges, and us adults are left to deal with it by ourselves :(

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  • @unchartedworlds@scicomm.xyz 2026-03-30 09:15

    @danluu Yeah, there's some evidence that having covid results in lower lymphocyte levels afterwards - this effect isn't specific to RSV. "Previous studies have reported T-cell exhaustion and a decline in effector memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells lasting at least 13 months after mild COVID-19. Our findings extend this observation, demonstrating that even a short, widespread SARS-CoV-2 outbreak can lead to prolonged lymphocyte dysregulation, which is potentially driven by impaired T-cell maturation, increased apoptosis, or prolonged immune activation. ... "Such alterations may impair the immune system’s ability to mount an effective response against latent infections, thereby increasing susceptibility to opportunistic pathogens." https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971225005090

    Open ##1912154