The objective of this program is to create a consortium of clinical sites that will perform deep phenotyping in 1500 babies, infants, and toddlers (0-2 years of age) with viral lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) and hospitalized with acute bronchiolitis, pneumonia and/or the pediatric acute respiratory
distress syndrome (PARDS), and longitudinal follow up of participants for evidence of lung disease including asthma at age 4-5 years.
Bronchiolitis, a condition unique to the young lung, is the leading cause of hospitalization for viral LRTI in 02-year-old children, including those born preterm.
There are critical knowledge gaps in defining the condition, predicting its severity, and understanding the reasons for hospitalization, including the immature host respiratory immune response to viral infection, heterogeneity in response to different viruses, current interventions, significant practice variation in diagnosis and management and subsequent impact on lung health.