Loading
Life sciences · Journal article
PLOS One · September 17, 2026
No summary has been generated for this record yet. What follows is drawn from its source metadata only.
Journal article.
No findings were extractable from the material analysed.
Safety was not reported in the material analysed. Check the source before drawing any conclusion about harm.
The source did not state who this applies to in practice.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
This record has not been graded across any dimension yet. Treat the label above as provisional and read the source.
What is missing. This record has no bottom line, key findings, reported figures, evidence dimensions. That is a gap in the analysis, not a judgement about the study.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of lower respiratory tract infections in infants and older adults worldwide. This retrospective study investigated the epidemiology and molecular characteristics of RSV in Taiwan from 2018 to 2024 using data from the National Community Virus Surveillance System, which encompassed the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic period. Among 74,773 samples collected from patients with suspected respiratory viral infections, 1,224 samples tested positive for RSV, yielding an overall detection rate of 1.6%. RSV circulation was markedly disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic, with no cases being detected during periods of stringent public health interventions and delayed outbreaks observed in late 2020 and 2023. Following the relaxation of nonpharmaceutical interventions, RSV seasonality shifted, with altered epidemic timing and changes in age distribution being observed. Most infections occurred in children younger than 5 years of age (92.6%), and RSV positivity varied significantly across age groups but not between sexes. Among the 1,224 isolates, 463 were randomly selected for glycoprotein (G) gene sequencing. The results revealed that RSV-A accounted for the majority (81.6%) of the tested isolates and were clustered within the A.D lineage, with A.D.3 being the dominant clade. The remaining strains were determined to be RSV-B, which were classified within the B.D lineage, with B.D.E.1 being observed as the dominant clade. The emergence of multiple RSV subclades during the study period indicates ongoing viral evolution in Taiwan. These findings demonstrate substantial shifts in RSV epidemiology following the COVID-19 pandemic and highlight viral evolution and clade replacement. Continued molecular surveillance is essential to monitor epidemiological trends and inform vaccination and prevention strategies.