Bradley K Ackerson, Brandon Chia, Negar Aliabadi, Gabriella Goodwin, Jeff Slezak, Vennis Hong, Qing Liu, Sally Shaw, Sabrina Welsh, Julie A Stern, Banshri Kapadia, Brigitte C Spence, Joseph A Lewnard, Gregg Davis, Evan J Zasowski, Michael Aragones, Ashley Miller, Michael Dutro, Erica Chilson, Elisa Gonzalez, Robin Hubler, Luis Jodar, Bradford D Gessner, Elizabeth Begier, Sara Y Tartof
Precision of VE against RSV-related ARI ED/hospital admissions improved substantially with inclusion of salvage testing compared to SOC testing alone (92% [67%-98%] vs 90% [29%-99%]).
BACKGROUND: Infrequent standard-of-care (SOC) testing for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in adults with acute respiratory illness (ARI) contributes to underestimated disease burden.
METHODS: We compared RSV prevalence and RSV vaccine effectiveness (VE) among 14 044 adults ≥60 years with ARI emergency department (ED)/hospital admissions receiving SOC RSV testing vs those with SOC or salvaged respiratory specimen RSV testing.
RESULTS: RSV was identified in 139 (0.99%) specimens by SOC testing alone vs 483 (3.44%) via SOC combined with salvage testing.
CONCLUSIONS: Precision of VE against RSV-related ARI ED/hospital admissions improved substantially with inclusion of salvage testing compared to SOC testing alone (92% [67%-98%] vs 90% [29%-99%]).