The dangerous RSV virus attacks children. “Hit double hard”

According to the doctor, the season of the year is conducive to an increase in the number of cases, which can be seen in the number of patients. We have an intense wave of other seasonal infections, and one of those viruses that are sweeping the world on an unprecedented scale is RSV. There are more and more infections among children, and some of them — especially the younger ones — are getting very sick, he says.

This virus usually began attacking children in the late fall, ended in the spring, and peaked in January and February. Last season, both influenza and RSV were completely gone. Now, perhaps as a result of the loosening of most restrictions in social life, RSV is back and hitting twice as hard – adds the pediatrician.

According to Dr. Magdalena Okarska-Naperasa, one of the places where children are rapidly infected with the dangerous virus are educational institutions. – There are a lot of infections in nurseries and kindergartens… We never had RSV patients during this period, and now there are a lot of them. The ward is full of RSV-infected children, and the same is true in other hospitals. It is not overcrowded yet, but in the Western literature it is described that intensive care units and emergency rooms are at the limit of their efficiency – the doctor warns.

You should also pay close attention to symptoms that should not be underestimated. – Older children have a runny nose and cough, younger children also have a runny nose at first, but then they begin to choke with a cough, and widely go to the hospital, where they need oxygen therapy, and fluid therapy. RSV has always been very dangerous for babies as young as several months old, but now we’re dealing with an unusual scale for this phenomenon, whole families sick — says the pediatrician.

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