Fewer Long Island children hospitalized for respiratory virus RSV since new treatments

Long Island's two regional children's hospitals have seen a sharp decline in young patients hospitalized with the respiratory virus RSV since a vaccine for pregnant women and treatment for infants became available less than three years ago, officials said.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can cause serious complications in infants as well as older adults, such as breathing problems and infections. It has been the leading cause of infant hospitalization in the United States, impacting an estimated 58,000 to 80,000 children under the age of 5 before treatments were available, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Otherwise healthy people in other age groups typically experience more mild, coldlike symptoms from RSV.

In 2023, federal officials approved a vaccination for pregnant women and an antibody treatment for infants to protect them against the virus. Both became more widely available over the next two years.

"We've seen a much, much lower rate of hospitalization of infants with RSV than we've seen in prior years," said Dr. Annemarie Stroustrup, chair of the department of pediatrics at Cohen Children’s Medical Center, part of the Long Island Jewish Medical Center campus in New Hyde Park.

Cohen's children's hospital admitted about 650 children with RSV from November of 2022 to February 2023, she said. The next season, 585 children were admitted. This year, between 200 and 225 children have been admitted, and Stroustrup said the hospital is unlikely to reach 250 patients.

"The difference this year was that lots of families took the step of either vaccinating mom or having the newborn receive the monoclonal antibody," she said. "I don't have data to say that that's 100% positive, but it certainly is highly correlated with the fact that this has been our best RSV season ever."

The RSV vaccine is given to women between 32 and 36 weeks of their pregnancy, producing antibodies in the mother that the fetus receives before it's born.

Doctors also recommend the monoclonal antibody treatment for those infants whose mothers did not receive the vaccine to prevent contracting RSV. While the treatment is administered through a shot for infants, it is not considered a vaccine.

Stroustrup said the "vast majority" of infants and young children hospitalized this season had not received the treatment or their mothers had not been vaccinated while pregnant.

Doctors report parents are increasingly questioning or refusing immunizations for their children, particularly since vaccine-skeptic Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in last year. Doctors say the changing guidelines from the CDC had led to some confusion among parents.

Stroustrup, however, said having two types of RSV treatments available is a comfort for some parents.

"There's a lot of varying sort of desire for vaccine," she said. "Some moms want the vaccine and they don't want their baby to have to get anything. Some families don't want a vaccine and the product for the baby is actually not a vaccine. It's a monoclonal antibody. And for some families, that makes all the difference ... both are very effective products so we get the same the same outcome either way."

Stony Brook Children's Hospital has seen a more than 50% drop in RSV hospitalizations this year compared with last year, said Dr. Sharon Nachman, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. Though more precise numbers weren't available this week, only one child admitted for RSV this season had a mother who received the vaccine.

She estimated about one-third of the mothers in Stony Brook’s obstetrics program are taking the vaccine. And more women are taking it right before delivery than they did last year.

"For the moms with their second child, and their first kid had RSV, they are much more excited to get the monoclonal antibodies," Nachman said. "They are like 'Oh yes, we really want to prevent this.'" Nachman said parents should understand that since the antibody treatment is not a vaccine, the protection against RSV comes quickly — a bonus for those whose kids are already in day care and may be exposed to the virus.

Several peer-reviewed studies conducted in the United States and Europe have also found the vaccine effective in preventing hospitalizations among infants.

Emily Bridgen-Mannino, a neonatal intensive care unit nurse at Cohen Children’s Medical Center, said she and her wife, also a NICU nurse, didn’t hesitate to give their 18-month-old daughter, Shay, the vaccine when it was available a few months after her birth.

"We see severe cases of RSV," said Bridgen-Mannino, 37, who lives in Nesconset. Her healthy nephew was hospitalized and on respiratory support when he was around 18 months old.

"Unfortunately, in the climate that is today, there is definitely a bit of a pushback," she said. "But the more we get the word out that this is safe and it works, I think more parents will be willing to give it ... any chance to not get this virus is a huge, huge thing."

By Lisa L. Colangelo

lisa.colangelo@newsday.com@lisalcolangelo

Lisa joined Newsday as a staff writer in 2019. She previously worked at amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press covering politics, government and general assignment.