Can adults get RSV?
Last updated September 3, 2026.
Yes: RSV reinfects adults throughout life, usually as an ordinary cold. But in adults 65-plus and people with heart, lung, or immune conditions, it is a serious threat that hospitalizes tens of thousands of older Americans yearly. Immunity after infection is incomplete, which is why it keeps coming back. The risk line: age 65 and up, COPD, asthma, heart failure, or immunocompromise turn a cold-looking illness into a lower-respiratory danger and a known trigger for COPD and heart-failure flare-ups. Prevention has moved: RSV vaccines exist for older adults, with recommendations centered on 75-plus and high-risk 60-to-74-year-olds, so ask your clinician if you qualify. The get-checked pattern in high-risk adults: wheezing, shortness of breath, or a cough that drops into the chest. And the household caution runs in both directions: your mild RSV can be dangerous to the infant or grandparent you pass it to, which is reason enough to stay home while symptomatic.
What to do
- Adults get RSV repeatedly: usually cold-like and gone in 1-2 weeks.
- High-risk groups: 65-plus, heart or lung disease, immunocompromised.
- Red flags: wheezing, breathlessness, chest-deep cough.
- Ask about the RSV vaccine if you are 60-plus.
- Your cold can hospitalize a baby: stay home while sick.
Related questions
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