Bronchiolitis in infants has different subtypes with differing risks of asthma: Study
Our data add significant support to the emerging concept that bronchiolitis represents several diseases with unique biological mechanisms.
USA: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis consists of four distinct molecular subtypes and a certain subtype is associated with greater asthma risk, according to a recent study in the journal Nature Communications.
Based on their analyses, four biologically and clinically meaningful subtypes, or endotypes, of RSV bronchiolitis exist. Of these, one endotype--which is characterized by coinfection by rhinovirus, dominance by specific bacteria, and high interferon (antiviral) response--had an approximate 40% risk of developing asthma by age five.
Bronchiolitis is the most common lung infection in young children which is most often caused by RSV and is the leading cause of hospitalizations in U.S. infants and about 30% of those with severe bronchiolitis later develop asthma.
"While bronchiolitis has been considered a single disease with similar mechanisms, emerging evidence has suggested that bronchiolitis consists of multiple disease subgroups," says lead author Yoshihiko Raita, MD, MMSc, a researcher in the MGH Department of Emergency Medicine. "But our limited understanding of RSV bronchiolitis, and how it varies, has held up efforts to develop RSV bronchiolitis treatment and asthma prevention strategies."
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