Researchers analysed 4,636 RSV-associated severe acute respiratory infection hospitalisations in adults aged 60 and over reported to Brazil's national influenza surveillance system between 2013 and 2024. Recorded hospitalisation rates rose from below 1 per 100,000 in 2013 to above 15 per 100,000 in 2024, with the sharpest increase after 2020, and case fatality stayed between 21% and 31%, highest above age 80. Almost a third of cases entered intensive care and 71% had a comorbidity, most often cardiovascular disease (65%).
Why it is interesting: Quantifies RSV mortality in older adults in a large middle-income country, though the rise tracks expanded testing as much as incidence.