Serious respiratory virus cases in young children on the rise, CDC says

Doctors warn of the spread respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, in infants and young children, NBC reports.

Why is this important: RSV, which typically peaks during the winter months, spreads unexpectedly, especially in southern states. The virus can cause serious illness in children and the elderly and kills up to 500 children under the age of 5 each year, per NBC.

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The big picture: Due to masking and social distancing over the past year during the worst times of the pandemic, there has been a decline in respiratory illnesses like RSV, but that hiatus appears to be over, Marisa Fernandez d’Axios reports.

• “My speculation is that because we took away his normal circulation time during the winter, it kind of makes up for lost time now,” Dr Claudette Poole, pediatric infectious disease physician at the Children’s of Alabama, told NBC. in Birmingham.

• If a child is diagnosed with RSV, doctors advise parents to watch their breathing. Very young babies and children with underlying lung conditions or a weakened immune system are particularly vulnerable to RSV.

The essential : “We usually talk about RSV in the winter, but we have to be on the lookout now, even in the summer, ”Dr. Diana Peterson, a pediatrician at Ochsner Hospital for Children, told NBC.

Go further: Doctors find delayed seasonal increase in RSV in children

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