Lead: Dr. Pascal Lavoie
At a Glance
The Infant RSV Immune Study (IRIS) follows babies from birth through early childhood to understand how RSV affects the developing immune system.
The Objective
Our research team seeks to understand how babies’ immune systems develop and respond to RSV infection early in life.
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is the leading cause of infant hospitalization in Canada. RSV is a common winter virus that infects most babies within their first RSV season, and can cause serious lung infections such as bronchiolitis and pneumonia, especially in babies under six months of age.
There is a maternal vaccine that provides the babies with passive protection, but there is no RSV vaccine for the baby themselves. While prevention tools are improving, we still do not fully understand how very young babies’ immune systems respond to RSV, or why some infants become much sicker than others. Our research team studies how babies’ immune systems develop and respond when they naturally get infected with RSV early in life and follow along with them until 3 years of age to monitor if they develop symptoms of asthma.
By taking part, you and your baby can help researchers:
- Understand why some infants get sicker than others
- Learn how early infections affect health later in childhood
- Improve RSV prevention strategies and vaccines
- Reduce the risk of long-term conditions such as asthma
Who is Participating?
In BC, the RSV season is from late October through March, and most infants are naturally infected before their first birthday.This study includes two groups:
- Babies born in April – May, who are expected to encounter RSV at an older age (around 6 – 9 months)
- Babies born in September – October, who are more likely to encounter RSV at a younger age (under 3 months)
You may be eligible to participate if:
- You are planning to give birth at BC Women’s Hospital
- Your baby is due in April – May or Sept – Oct 2026
You do not need to have had the maternal RSV vaccine in order to participate in this study, if you have, or have not have the vaccine, it doesn’t affect your eligibility. If you’re interested in taking part in this study, please click the button below to go directly to our eligibility survey. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email us at rsv.study@bcchr.ca.
What Does the Study Involve?
Study visits:
- 2-3 short study visits between birth and your child’s third birthday
- Online questionnaires about your child’s health
- Compensation provided to participants, including parking costs
Samples from your baby:
- Cord blood sample collected after birth from the placental side of the umbilical cord (after it has been cut)
- Small blood samples to measure immunity to RSV
- Oral swab collected at birth or during a scheduled study visit
- Dried blood spot (either leftover from newborn screening or collected by a small heel prick)
- Stool samples collected at home at 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 months, and 3 years old (mailed to the study team)
Samples from the birthing parent:
- We will use leftover prenatal and delivery blood samples collected during routine care
- One additional blood sample collected 12 months after birth
These samples help us understand how long RSV vaccine-related immunity lasts and how it may influence your baby’s immune response. All samples are collected by trained staff, if you are concerned about discomfort, numbing gel can be applied before the blood samples are taken.
If you are interested in donating your cord blood to the Canadian Blood Services, you still can! During delivery, we collect a small sample of cord blood for this study. If you would also like to donate your cord blood to the Canadian Blood Services (CBS), this is optional, and we coordinate with CBS so both can be done. You would need to register with Canadian Blood Services directly if you would like to donate.
Click here, or scan the QR code to find more information about how to register for CBS Cord Blood Donation.
