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While current immunization approaches effectively reduce disease severity among the most vulnerable, identifying the core drivers of infection is essential to effectively disrupt population-level transmission. By generating 910 whole-genome viral sequences of RSV from all age groups (&lt;1 to 65+ years) in Connecticut, we identified that children aged 12-35 months are the primary drivers of viral transmission to other age groups. This group significantly shapes the genetic diversity of circulating strains. Furthermore, we found that RSV is introduced into the community through frequent and independent entries from other US regions throughout the year, rather than through a single explosive seasonal introduction or long-term local persistence. Ultimately, our findings justify prevention strategies that expand beyond reducing disease burden to actively prioritizing the reduction of transmission and infection.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.64898\/2026.05.07.26350887","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,18]],"date-time":"2026-05-18T22:30:18Z","timestamp":1779143418000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Genomic surveillance of a deeply sampled local population reveals age-specific drivers of RSV transmission"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2707-3547","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jiye","family":"Kwon","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health; New Haven, CT, USA"},{"name":"Public Health Modeling Unit, Yale School of Public Health; New Haven, CT, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ellen M.","family":"de Vries","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health; 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