Influence of maternal asthma on the cause and severity of infant acute respiratory tract infections

Clinically significant rhinovirus infection during infancy was more strongly associated with having a mother with atopic asthma than clinically significant RSV infection. Having a mother with atopic asthma was associated with increased severity of infant rhinovirus but not RSV infections. Infants with rhinovirus were more likely to have a familial atopic predisposition, which might partly explain the subsequent increased asthma risk.