RSV On the Rise

 I am seeing an uptick of healthcare professionals on Twitter saying that RSV (Respiratory syncytial virus) is starting to be a real concern for children. It is particularly dangerous for infants.

"RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lung) and pneumonia (infection of the lungs) in children younger than 1 year of age in the United States. Most of the time RSV will cause a mild, cold-like illness, but it can also cause severe illness."

There is no vaccine but scientists are working on one.

From Time magazine:

"During the last full week of October, Seattle Children’s emergency department reported that 30% of the respiratory viral tests it conducted were positive for RSV, a percentage that doctors there usually don’t see until the peak of the season, which doesn’t generally occur until the winter.

 The pandemic forced schools to close and triggered infection-control mandates such as social distancing and mask wearing. Those measures also meant that other respiratory viruses, like influenza and RSV, circulated less. Babies born during the pandemic therefore likely weren’t exposed to the virus until this year, when mask mandates and other pandemic mitigation policies were dropped."

That point about schools being closed because of COVID and babies not being exposed to RSV seems to be an escalating point on social media. There is a rise on Twitter of parents who are furious that schools were closed for so long with RSV being just one outcome of that decision. I might start another post on that issue because I wonder what the temperature on the issue of closed schools is for Seattle Schools parents.

Good info on symptoms at Rise and Shine including this chart below.