Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jun 2;231(5):e840-e845.
doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiaf101.

Recovery of Antibody Immunity After a Resurgence of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections

Frederic Reicherz  1   2   3 , Marina Viñeta Paramo  1   4 , Jeffrey N Bone  1 , Alexanne Lavoie  1   2 , Sirui Li  1   2 , Liam Golding  1 , Agatha Jassem  5   6 , Allison Watts  1   2 , Bahaa Abu-Raya  1   2 , Pascal M Lavoie  1   2
Affiliations

Recovery of Antibody Immunity After a Resurgence of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections

Frederic Reicherz et al. J Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Longitudinal measurements of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) immunity over 4 winter seasons reveal that viral neutralization titers, RSV prefusion F protein (pre-F)-specific immunoglobulin M and immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels, and RSV antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis function gradually returned to prepandemic levels in female healthcare and school workers of childbearing age after 2 winter seasons, following the resurgence of RSV cases in the Vancouver metropolitan region (British Columbia, Canada). In contrast, pre-F IgG avidity profiles remained unchanged. These findings support the notion that repeated viral infections are necessary to maintain high RSV antibody levels in the population.

Keywords: Fc function; antibody; immunity; neutralization; respiratory syncytial virus.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflicts of interest. Authors declare no relevant conflicts of interest. B. A.-R. received honoraria for participation in live meetings from Sanofi Pasteur France and Canada related to pertussis and RSV; received nominal payment as a member of a data and safety monitoring board for a study conducted by Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok, Thailand); and is co-investigator on studies funded by GSK, Pfizer, Merck, Moderna, Vaccitech, and Inventprise. All funds have been paid to his institution, and he has not received any personal payments. All other authors report no potential conflicts. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Temporal trends in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases in British Columbia (BC) and serum antibody measures in women of childbearing age, and RSV hospitalizations in young infants. A, Total number of weekly reported RSV cases in BC, Canada, between 1 October 2019 and 24 April 2024 obtained from the Public Health Agency of Canada (https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/surveillance/respiratory-virus-detections-canada.html). B, Virus neutralization titers (expressed as serum dilution that blocked 95% of viral infection of cultured cells in vitro [NT95], with a lower limit of detection of 8 [dotted line]). C, RSV F protein–specific antibody–dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP) scores, measured in healthcare workers (black circles) and school workers (open gray circles) with locally estimated scatterplot smoothing fit and 95% confidence intervals. D, RSV hospitalizations in children <6 months of age at BC Children's Hospital, the main pediatric hospital in BC that also services the Vancouver city catchment area, between 1 October 2019 and 24 April 2024.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Temporal trends in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) prefusion F (pre-F)–specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels. Pre-F–specific IgM (A) and IgG (B) levels were quantified after blocking sera with an excess of RSV postfusion F protein, in healthcare workers (black circles) and school workers (open gray circles) in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 with locally estimated scatterplot smoothing fit and 95% confidence intervals.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Vineta Paramo M, Ngo LPL, Abu-Raya B, et al. Respiratory syncytial virus epidemiology and clinical severity before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia, Canada: a retrospective observational study. Lancet Reg Health Am 2023; 25:100582. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Abu-Raya B, Reicherz F, Michalski C, et al. Loss of respiratory syncytial virus antibody functions during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures. J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc 2023; 12:piad099. - PubMed
    1. Reicherz F, Xu RY, Abu-Raya B, et al. Waning immunity against respiratory syncytial virus during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. J Infect Dis 2022; 226:2064–8. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Abu-Raya B, Paramo MV, Reicherz F, Lavoie PM. Why has the epidemiology of RSV changed during the COVID-19 pandemic? EClinicalMedicine 2023; 61:102089. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Green CA, Sande CJ, de Lara C, et al. Humoral and cellular immunity to RSV in infants, children and adults. Vaccine 2018; 36:6183–90. - PubMed

MeSH terms