Hospital reports spike in RSV cases among children

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by Tanakorn Sangiam

   
BANGKOK (NNT) - Thailand’s Children Hospital has reported a rise in the number of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) patients year by year. The hospital is asking parents of very young children to be cautious and take precautionary measures against respiratory diseases.

 

Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health, so-called Children Hospital, has reported an increase in RSV cases among its very young patients, with one out of three patients visiting the hospital having RSV and the number of new cases rising every year.

 

RSV is a respiratory pathogen that causes symptoms similar to cold and flu. RSV infections can go away for adults and older children, but can be especially severe and potentially fatal for children under a year old, as well as the elderly with underlying health conditions.

 

Dr. Chalermthai Aksilp, a pediatric pulmonologist at Children Hospital, said very young children can develop severe complications from the mucus which children may not be able to properly dispose of.

 

He said the same precautionary measures against COVID-19 can be applied to help prevent RSV. This includes mask-wearing and hand hygiene.

 

RSV tests can be performed with nasal swabs, similar to Covid.

 

The incubation period for RSV is around 3-6 days, and the virus can be active in the host’s body for 8 days.

 

Those diagnosed with RSV are recommended to self-isolate, take a leave from school, take medications, and see a doctor when symptoms do not go away.

 

Source: https://thainews.prd.go.th/en/news/detail/TCATG221020091811340

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2022-10-20

 

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[onthedarkside]

A post with an unsourced and unsubstantiated claim has been removed, along with an ensuing reply.

 

[onthedarkside]

A trolling post has been removed, along with a comment on moderation post.

 

 

[KhunLA]

Been around for ... ever, but now, masks are suggested as a precautionary measure.

 

How long will it be, before every viral, bacterial infection re-hits the headlines, and masks will be recommended to prevent.   To the point of mandatory mask wearing in the future, to prevent all respiratory diseases, and then some, when never in the past was it recommended, with exception of high risk patients, and simply awareness for 'their' protection.

 

Control control control ... for all in the future.

 

And yet in the past, the highest of risk groups were rarely if ever warned or advised to wear a mask.  Along with personal hygiene highly suggested to the level of today.  Guess we could have avoided a few million old folks dying of the common cold & flu over the past century.

 

Now that billions of $$$ can be made ... nuff said.

[onthedarkside]

It's a seasonal virus that typically peaks in the fall,  and then drops off during the remainder of the year:

 

...

"Belcher said RSV season traditionally starts in November, but children are getting infected sooner.

 

The spike in RSV cases may be because the virus hasn’t been as common the past two years due to pandemic precautions like hand washing and social distancing, Belcher said. With less COVID-19 restrictions, the virus can spread to more people.

 

“So now you have older kids who have not had the virus yet and then we kind of got rid of those measures that were decreasing the spread of COVID and RSV, at the same time,” Belcher said. 

 

“So now you have a big gap of kids who've never seen RSV, and you have older kids catching it at day care and relatives and some kids in school, and they're spreading it to the younger ones, too.”

 

https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/kids-are-at-risk-for-rsv-heres-how-health-experts-say-to-protect-them

 

 

 

https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/infographic.html

 

RSV detected cases in the U.S. per the CDC: The chart below first shows the seasonal spike during fall 2021, then followed by the current seasonal spike in 2022.

 

 

https://www.cdc.gov/surveillance/nrevss/rsv/natl-trend.html

 

[khunPer]

RSV infections are on the rise in many areas, there will soon be a vaccine or two choices available, they are both in successful trials.

[edwinchester]

RSV ripped through my daughter's school a few weeks ago helped along by alot of parents still taking sick kids into class.

High fever and lethargic for about 5 days and a really bad cough and chest infection for 3 weeks. For her it was worse than covid which she had last March and was over with in 3 days.

[monkfish]

They are still wearing masks but infections are on the rise?
Probably didn't catch it before as all schools were closed.
Would be interesting to know how many cases there are now compared to pre Covid