Respiratory virus infections lead to a spectrum of respiratory symptoms and variable disease severity, contributing to substantial morbidity, mortality and economic losses worldwide. Respiratory viruses in general can spread easily in the population and are specifically prone to cause large-scale outbreaks, epidemics and even pandemics (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Respiratory viruses prone to cause outbreaks.
The continued and yearly epidemics of respiratory viruses, such as Influenzavirus, RSV, hMPV, … allow respiratory viruses to evolve and possibly generate new variants with increased infectivity and/or pathogenicity. Furthermore, their continuous replication in the human population is also linked to accumulation of mutations in these viruses, giving them an edge in the ongoing arms race between virus and our immune system. In the advent of the soon to be introduced vaccines and monoclonal antibodies for viruses such as RSV and hMPV, monitoring how changes in the viral genome translate to a specific phenotype that may affect efficacy is critical.
While virus genome-based surveillance networks are implemented, including rapid acquisition of virus sequences and data sharing, there is a clear gap in the link between the viral genotype and the biological phenotype. Therefore, there is an urgent need to have access to live isolates of respiratory viruses to allow for a better understanding of the biological features of viruses related to host specificity, pathogenicity, immune escape and vaccine efficacy, and sensitivity of diagnostic tests. Ideally, such respositories should capture the variability of recent clinical isolates.