Ciliary dyskinesia is an early feature of respiratory syncytial virus infection

Respiratory syncytial virus is a major cause of respiratory disease. There are conflicting accounts of the response of human epithelial cells to respiratory syncytial virus and a lack of data on its effect on ciliary function. Our aim was to study the early stages of respiratory syncytial virus infection of primary human basal and ciliated cultures. Using high speed videomicroscopy, we found that ciliary beat frequency was unaffected by respiratory syncytial virus infection over 72 h; however, ciliary dyskinesia significantly increased within 24 h of infection (p