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Early respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection has been linked with an increased risk for wheezing and asthma in later childhood. Now, a prospective, community-based study of 888 children, 23 percent of whom developed proven RSV infections during the first 3 years of life, has studied the subsequent prevalence of wheezing and atopy to age 13.
The risk for wheezing, as assessed by questionnaire at age 6, was significantly higher in children with previous RSV infection than in those with no previous lower respiratory tract illness (RR, 3.2 for infrequent wheezing and 4.3 for frequent wheezing). This excess risk subsided after age 6, returning to normal by age 13. Previous parainfluenza infection was not associated with subsequent wheezing, …