Key Points
RSV provides protection against a subsequent IAV infection for at least 30 d.
The order of successive viral infections can impact disease severity.
Innate and adaptive immunity contribute to protection induced by a prior infection.
Abstract
Respiratory infections are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. The presence of multiple heterologous virus infections is routinely observed in a subset of individuals screened for the presence of respiratory viruses. However, the impact overlapping infections has on disease severity and the host immune response is not well understood. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza A virus (IAV) are two of the most common respiratory infections observed in hospitalized patients, particularly in the very young and aged populations. In this study, we examined how the order in which BALB/c mice were infected with both RSV and IAV impacts disease severity. RSV infection prior to an IAV infection was associated with decreased weight loss and increased survival as compared with IAV infection alone. In contrast, IAV infection prior to an RSV infection was associated with similar morbidity and mortality as compared with an IAV infection alone. Our results suggest that the order in which viral infections are acquired plays a critical role in the outcome of disease severity and the host immune response.
Footnotes
This work was supported by funds from the Department of Microbiology at the University of Iowa (to S.M.V.) and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health Award R01AI124093 (to S.M.V.). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
The online version of this article contains supplemental material.
Abbreviations used in this article
- BAL
- bronchoalveolar lavage
- IAV
- influenza A virus
- i.n.
- intranasally
- MHC II
- MHC class II
- Penh
- enhanced pause
- p.i.
- postinfection
- RSV
- respiratory syncytial infection
- Trm
- tissue-resident memory
- Received June 24, 2020.
- Accepted November 23, 2021.
- Copyright © 2022 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc.
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