EDITORIAL Respiratory

syncytial virus and subsequent asthma: one step closer to unravelling the Gordian knot? G. Piedimonte*, E.A.F. Simoes# Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common respiratory pathogen in infancy, infecting nearly all children within the first 2 yrs of life [1]. There is grow-ing evidence that severe RSV lower respiratory infec-tion (LRI) early in life is an important risk factor for the development of recurrent wheezing and asthma in later childhood [2] but the field abounds with apparent controversy [3–13]. A recent paper from the Tucson Children9s Respiratory Study in Arizona, USA has demonstrated that mild-to-moderate RSV LRI in the first 3 yrs of life is an important risk factor for subse-quent wheezing [7, 8] up to 11 yrs of age, but this ris