Across the country, there has been an alarming case surge in the respiratory illness known as RSV. In San Diego, at least 300 patients have tested positive in the last week and a half, according to the clinical director of infectious diseases at Rady Children’s Hospital.
“The children who are most at risk for RSV are small babies, particularly those under six months of age, but kids under a year of age tend to get sick. And kids that have underlying lung and other chronic diseases can also get pretty sick from RSV,” said Alice Pong, MD, who is also the medical director for infection control at Rady Children’s Hospital.
Right now, more than half of the patients in the ICU at Rady Children’s are being treated for respiratory infections. Also, one-third of the patients tested for RSV are positive. It’s not clear why there’s been a surge in RSV cases, which typically surge in January and February.
“We are also seeing a lot of different viruses all at the same time, they’re not all RSV. Kids that were wearing masks for a long time are taking them off, kids are congregating where they weren’t before. So all of these things are contributing to these different virus infection,” said Dr. Pong.
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Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a contagious virus with symptoms that closely resemble the flu. Symptoms include runny nose, a decrease in appetite, coughing, sneezing, fever, wheezing. Right now, there is no specific medication for RSV.
“If your kid is having trouble breathing, or eating, those are the indications when you need to bring your kid to the emergency room. If they just have a little runny nose, a low-grade fever that you can manage with Tylenol and Motrin, then you should try to keep your kids at home and manage them at home, and only when you get really worried, would you need to bring them to the emergency room and call your doctor’s office, said Dr. Pong.
