RSV cases fell dramatically two years ago as the pandemic shut down schools, day cares and businesses. With restrictions easing in the summer of 2021, doctors saw an alarming increase in what is normally a fall and winter virus.
Now, it’s back again. And doctors are bracing for the possibility that RSV, flu and COVID-19 could combine to stress hospitals.
Among U.S. kids under age 5, RSV typically leads to 58,000 hospitalizations and up to 500 deaths in a year.For babies, the struggle to breathe can interfere with eating. “And that’s really when we start to worry,” said Dr. Melanie Kitagawa of Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, where more than 40 children have RSV.
“South Carolina is drowning in RSV,” Mack said in a news release. The surge arrived earlier this year than normal, she said. Last week, more than 7,000 tests came back positive for RSV, according to CDC figures. That’s more than in previous surges.There’s no specific treatment, so it’s a matter of managing symptoms and letting the virus run its course. Doctors may prescribe oral steroids or an inhaler to make breathing easier.WHAT DO DOCTORS RECOMMEND?During RSV season, an injection of an antibody-based medicine is sometimes prescribed to protect premature infants and other very vulnerable babies.
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