Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40689251›Full record

Trial reportOpen forum infectious diseases2025

Dynamics of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Illness and Serology During Pregnancy and Infancy in the United States and South Africa.

Shabir A Madhi, Eric A F Simões, Nicola P Klein, Agnieszka Zareba, Philip R Dormitzer, Daniel A Scott, Alejandra Gurtman, William C Gruber, Kathrin U Jansen, David Cooper and 3 more

Abstract readClinical Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Open forum infectious diseases, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Maternal and Newborn Group BOpen forum infectious diseases · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Shabir A MadhiSouth African Medical Research Council Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Eric A F SimõesDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, Colorado, USA.
Nicola P KleinKaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center, Division of Research, Oakland, California, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1777-4814
Agnieszka ZarebaPfizer Vaccines, Pfizer Inc, Collegeville, Pennsylvania, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4118-6879
Philip R DormitzerPfizer Vaccines, Pfizer Inc, Pearl River, New York, USA.
Daniel A ScottPfizer Vaccines, Pfizer Inc, Collegeville, Pennsylvania, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4916-145X
Alejandra GurtmanPfizer Vaccines, Pfizer Inc, Pearl River, New York, USA.
William C GruberPfizer Vaccines, Pfizer Inc, Pearl River, New York, USA.
Kathrin U JansenPfizer Vaccines, Pfizer Inc, Pearl River, New York, USA.
David CooperPfizer Vaccines, Pfizer Inc, Pearl River, New York, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4595-3943
Bing CaiPfizer Vaccines, Pfizer Inc, Collegeville, Pennsylvania, USA.
Beate Schmoele-ThomaPfizer Vaccines, Pfizer Pharma GmbH, Berlin, Germany.
Kena A SwansonPfizer Vaccines, Pfizer Inc, Pearl River, New York, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3389-8414

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Vaccination during pregnancy to protect infants against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) disease relies on transplacental transfer of RSV neutralizing antibodies. Observational natural history studies on correlations between RSV-specific antibody levels and infant protection have, however, had variable results. Methods: This observational natural history study characterized RSV-specific neutralizing antibody levels and described infant RSV disease dynamics in South African and United States (US) maternal-infant pairs. Naturally acquired RSV serum neutralizing titers were determined from 726 pregnant individuals and their infants at birth and assessed in relationship to serum neutralizing titers conferred by serum palivizumab protective levels. Results: In the absence of vaccination, we found no correlation between RSV neutralizing titers and infant protection against RSV-associated lower respiratory tract illness. South Africa versus US comparison revealed similar, broad distributions of maternal serum RSV neutralizing titers but lower transplacental transfer rates in South Africa (0.6 [95% confidence interval {CI}, .6-.7]) than the US (1.3 [95% CI, 1.1-1.4]) and high rates of community spread of infant asymptomatic RSV infection in South Africa versus the US. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the effectiveness of maternal immunization against infant RSV relies on immunization shifting natural distribution of maternal RSV neutralizing titers into the protective range for infants, which is supported by efficacy demonstrated with RSV maternal immunization.

Indexed as

infantmaternalrespiratory syncytial virusSouth AfricaUnited States

Identifiers

PMID40689251
PMCPMC12272051

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.