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Joana Y Lively, Aaron T Curns, Geoffrey A Weinberg, Kathryn M Edwards, Mary A Staat, Mila M Prill, Susan I Gerber, Gayle E Langley, Respiratory Syncytial Virus–Associated Outpatient Visits Among Children Younger Than 24 Months, Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, Volume 8, Issue 3, July 2019, Pages 284–286, https://doi.org/10.1093/jpids/piz011
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To the Editor—Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of lower respiratory tract disease among infants and young children globally [1]. Outpatient medical visit (emergency department and primary care) rates, stratified by 6-month age intervals, were published for infants aged <1 year from prospective surveillance conducted during the 2002−2004 RSV seasons in 3 US counties through the New Vaccine Surveillance Network (NVSN) [2]. However, outpatient RSV burden estimates among children aged <6 months with narrower age stratifications are critically needed to assess the potential effect of interventions through maternal vaccination or administration of RSV-specific antibodies for protection from severe RSV infection during the first few months of life [3–6]. We previously analyzed hospitalization rates of children aged <24 months in 1-month intervals [7]; we now report data for outpatient RSV-associated rates for emergency department (ED) and pediatric practice visits among children aged <24 months in 1-month intervals using previously unpublished NVSN data.