Eligibility
In line with All Year General Virology and Serology Surveillance, participating practices will provide virology swabs from patients whose parent/guardian have provided consent, and who are:
- Aged under 5 years
- Consulting with symptoms of an acute respiratory infection (ARI), influenza-like illness (ILI), or fever
Approach and Informed Consent
Practices should approach parents/guardians of eligible patients about the RSV ComNet II study with reference to the RSV ComNet II Patient Information Sheet (Adults).
Written or verbal informed consent should be obtained using the RSV ComNet II Parent/Guardian Consent Form, to enable follow up with the parents/guardians of patient's whose swabbing results are RSV positive.
Practices must keep a record of who has consented to be in the RSV ComNet II study so that recruitment figures can be provided to the study team when needed. A Data Linkage form will be provided, but practices are advised to also make a note on the consent form using the Patient Study Number.
Swabbing
In line with virology swabbing for All Year General Virology and Serology Surveillance, this can be done by either of the two pathways outlined below:
- An in-practice kit can be administered by a healthcare professional at the practice, OR
- A self-swabbing kit delivered directly to the patient to self-swab at home
Virology samples are sent to the PHE Colindale lab in London, tested for respiratory viruses, and then stored.
Coding
We encourage practices to code into the patient's computerised medical record (CMR) wherever possible, including during a consultation, when a swab has been taken, and when results have been received. For more guidance on coding, please see All Year General Virology and Serology Surveillance.
For the RSV ComNet II study, please be sure to code:
- 'Swab from nasopharynx taken for virology’ (SNOMED CT ID: 439578005), and
- For those who have given informed consent for followed up, please also code the RSV ComNet II CPMS ID into the patient's CMR. The RSV ComNetII CPMS ID is: 47281. (See Adding RSV Research Code to a Patient Record)
Results
In line with virology swabbing for All Year General Virology and Serology Surveillance, practices will receive results for flu, RSV, HMPV and COVID-19 from the lab via eLab (if signed up) or the post, and will need to notify patients (in this case their parents/guardians). Patients who have used the self-swabbing TakeATestUK kit will only receive an automatic notification of COVID-19 test result, so will need to be notified by the practice if their result is also RSV positive.
Follow up telephone surveys
At Day 14 and Day 30 after the swab has been taken, practices will be expected to conduct two short follow up telephone surveys with the patient's parent/guardian.
The electronic surveys include questions on the patient's medical history, healthcare usage, the impact of RSV on their quality of life, and the socio-economic impact of RSV on parents/guardians. For more information please see the RSV ComNet II Study Protocol.
Targets
Across the network, we are aiming for 500 swabbed patients under the age of 5 years, regardless of whether the patient's RSV result is positive or negative.
