ObservatARI

Intensive surveillance of acute respiratory infections (ARI) in primary care with a focus on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV): prospective sentinel network observational study

Aims

To provide more contemporary data about the clinical presentation and disease burden of virologically proven RSV.

Deliverables

This research aims to better understand the clinical presentation of RSV disease in adults in primary care.

Expected Impact

This study will help our understanding of the burden of RSV disease in the community and help to shape introductions of interventions against RSV.

What is RSV?

Respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is a common respiratory virus. It usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms but it can cause serious lung infections, especially in infants, older adults, and people with serious medical problems.

Project outline - What are we doing/What are our aims?

We are planning to implement the study in three phases: 1) Deploy the point of care testing and merge it with reference laboratory, primary care and secondary care data to create contemporary data on the incidence of RSV infection in the community and estimate the burden of RSV disease.

Why is our work important?

RSV infection in adults results in a substantial burden on healthcare systems globally. For example, a recent systematic review on the disease burden of RSV in United Kingdom (UK) adults reported an average of 200k general practitioner (GP) episodes and almost 8000 deaths per season.

How are we doing this?

The RCGP RSC sentinel network will be leveraged for this study by expanding that infrastructure to incorporate POCT at 21 clinic sites geographically spread throughout England. This POCT is appended to this ‘real-world’ clinical infrastructure to obtain a more accurate estimate of the incidence of RSV in primary care. The study design will employ a syndromic surveillance approach, which will allow for collection of data on RSV which is not routinely tested as part of usual care. Surveillance will occur in primary care clinics where a trained nurse or healthcare assistant will assess patients with ARI using a standard method, completing POCT for selected symptomatic patients.

Who are we working with?

The study is sponsored by Moderna.