RSV is a causative agent of highly contagious, acute, viral infection of the respiratory tract in pediatric and elderly populations. Respiratory syncytial virus is a single-stranded RNA virus. Nearly half of all children become infected with RSV in their first year of life. It is also the major viral cause of nosocomial illness in children already hospitalized for other reasons. In the United States, RSV is estimated to be responsible for 73,400 to 126,300 hospitalizations annually for bronchiolitis and pneumonia alone among children younger than 1 year. In an analysis of U.S. viral surveillance and mortality data, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was reported as the most common viral cause of death in children younger than 5 years when compared to influenza A H1N1, influenza A H3N2, and influenza B. Among children hospitalized with RSV infection, the mortality rate is estimated to be as low as 0.3% to 1.0% and in the range of 2.5% to 4.0% for children with underlying cardiac or pulmonary disease

A positive test result indicates that the patient is presumptively infected with the indicated virus. A negative test result suggests that the patient is not infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).