The initial part of this issue is devoted to considerations of infection by the respiratory syncytial virus, an issue which has been the subject of hotly contested correspondence^{1, 2} following our publication of the recommendations for prophylaxis against the virus made following a meeting of the British Paediatric Cardiac Association,³ now the British Congenital Cardiac Association. In addition to the manuscripts that resulted from the symposium held at the meeting of the European Association for Paediatric Cardiology held in Munich in May of 2004, we are also pleased to publish an original article submitted over the same period from the Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital. We are grateful, however, to Tim Feltes and his colleagues for assembling the material that forms the basis of the papers resulting from the meeting in Munich, and we are the more pleased that Tim himself, as guest editor, has agreed to introduce this important topic in the pages of the Journal.