Vaccines are key to protecting against respiratory diseases

People over 65 years of age are at higher risk of pneumococcal disease and have higher in-hospital mortality due to RSV infection, as well as higher mortality, intensive care unit admission and hospitalization following influenza or Covid. Prevention through vaccination against respiratory viruses can help reduce the burden of pneumococcal disease and the severity of pneumonia.

respiratory diseasesamong which influenza, pneumococcal infection, Covid19 or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)have common symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat or nasal congestion, but they also have another thing in common: they all pose a risk of serious respiratory infection for older adults.

He Professor Angel GilProfessor at the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the Juan Carlos University of Madrid, notes that ” Older adults have higher RSV-related in-hospital mortality with increasing age.

and risk pneumococcal infection “It is higher among adults over 65 compared to people aged 50 to 64 and 18 to 49.”.

“Similarly, adults ages 50 to 64 and 65 to 79 experience greater mortality or intensive care unit admissions following infection flu and in case COVID-19, “Hospitalization and mortality associated with this disease have also been shown to increase with age.”– he warns.

This expert who participated in the symposium “New horizons in the prevention of respiratory diseases“, promoted by Pfizer in the framework of the XII Congress of the Spanish Association of Vaccinologists, indicates that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular disease, people with diabetes or liver or kidney problems, and people with weakened immune systems also have increased risk of respiratory diseases.

For this reason prevention through vaccination is a good strategy, “because vaccines induce a protective immune response against pathogens without the risk of contracting the disease and its possible complications,” professor comments King Juan Carlos University from Madrid.

RSV and pneumococcus are pathologies with a high prevalence in older people

In case respiratory syncytial virus (VRS), Professor Angel Gil warns that this pathology with significant prevalence in older people and has caused numerous hospitalizations and deaths around the world. So much so that in Spain Hospitalizations due to RSV occur more often than due to influenza.. In addition, the disease burden of RSV is underestimated in adults.

“In this context, when we also observe that 50.3% of patients hospitalized for RSV in Spain have one or more chronic diseases, fortunately we have new vaccines for the prevention of RSV in adults from 60 years of age, which represents a very encouraging horizon for reducing the burden of RSV in this population group, primarily reducing hospitalization and mortality rates.“the specialist emphasizes, adding that it is necessary individual awareness of age and comorbidities as a risk factor for RSV disease.

For my part, Dr. Jose Enrique Yuste Loboresponsible for the Pneumococcus Reference Laboratory Carlos III Health Institutewho also took part in a symposium organized by Pfizer at the Congress AEVindicates that Protective measures taken during the pandemic have reduced respiratory infections

.

“Regarding pneumococcus, we noticed that among the adult population after SARS-CoV-2 there was increased circulation of serotypes 3 and 8, as well as serotype 4 It has tripled compared to the period before the pandemic. For this reason, prevention is still necessary against this pathogen, especially among vulnerable populations“speaks Doctor Juste.

At the same time, the expert emphasizes that RSV infection favors pneumococcal infection.. “In this sense prevention by vaccination against respiratory viruses (fluRSV and SARS-CoV-2) may help reduce the burden of pneumococcal disease and the severity of pneumonia.“Concluded a researcher from the National Center for Microbiology.