Doctor warns of possible resurgence of respiratory syncytial virus in young children

“The off-season resurgence in seasonal respiratory viruses now potentially poses a threat to vulnerable infants,” according to the expert.

As COVID-19 case numbers have declined and pandemic public health precautions have been eased, cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) have risen dramatically in Australia and, more recently, the United States.

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The respiratory syncytial virus is a virus that infects the lower respiratory system and may lead to severe sickness and death. RSV affected approximately 2.7 million children globally each year before the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was the fourth leading cause of mortality in young children.

Dr Pascal Lavoie, BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, and coauthors, notes in the research published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal):

“The off-season return of seasonal respiratory viruses now possibly presents a danger to susceptible babies.”

Canada, like other nations, had relatively few instances of RSV during the COVID-19 pandemic, with just 239 positive cases between August 29, 2020, and May 8, 2021, compared to 18,860 positive tests in the same time the previous year (between August 25, 2019, and May 2, 2020). Over the past year, the infection appeared to vanish.

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However, a rise in RSV infections in Canada this summer, as well as in other countries, may put a strain on health-care resources in paediatric intensive care units (ICUs). Because most pregnant women and newborns did not build immunity during the previous season, children may be more susceptible to sickness this year.

In the event that RSV resurfaces, the authors recommend that:

• Handwashing and basic hygiene practises should continue to be emphasised, as well as other preventive measures such as breastfeeding when feasible.
• Continued testing to confirm RSV when required
• Planning by pediatric ICUs to manage increases in severe RSV cases
• Administering preventive treatment to highest-risk infants in the summer if cases increase to the level of the normal fall season.

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