Respiratory syncytial virus season and hospitalizations in the Alaskan Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

ABSTRACT

From 1993 to 1996, Alaska Native infants younger than 1 year of age from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region in Alaska experienced a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) hospitalization rate 5 times higher than the U.S. general infant population rate. This article describes the trends in hospitalization and prolonged annual season of RSV hospitalizations in Yukon-Kuskokwim children from 1993 to 2004 and discusses factors associated with high rates of RSV hospitalization and the impact of interventions to decrease RSV hospitalizations in this population.