Drastic Warning Issued to Parents as Kids Hospitalized With RSV Surges

RSV respiratory syncytial virus Deadly Virus Pandemic Kids Lesser Immunity Immunity to Flu Hospitalization Spike

By Jo Anne Hubert , Parent Herald Nov 06, 10:13 am

Parents are put on high alert after alarming new data showed that the count of Brit children that have been hospitalized with the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) has soared in the last week. The U.K. Health Security Agency reported that not only have the virus cases risen intensely, but hospitalisations have also surged.

RSV, which has cold-like symptoms and normally only accounts for 20,000 hospital admissions in the U.K. under one year old, now has increased infection by 8.3 percent during the month end of October.

The unusually high count of RSV infections early in the year is already "pushing hospitals to capacity," NPR reported.

Normally, RSV sends thousands of children to the hospital during fall and winter. However, for the second year in-a-row, experts have seen an alarming spike in the number of cases just in the beginning of summer.

Public health officials even warned that come winter there could be a "tripledemic."

Pandemic kids were not able to build immunity

Experts fear that babies and young children "may not have built up any immunity to bugs like RSV and flu."

Director of advanced pediatrics at Mass General Brigham in Boston, Dr. Vandana Madhavan, explained that babies born just before or during the pandemic did not gain the benefit of being regularly exposed to common viruses, including RSV, and were not able to build the right amount of immunity to these viruses.

Children aged two to three may have little natural immunity to flu and "can become severely ill. That is why we are urging parents to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible," U.K. Health Security Agency consultant epidemiologist, Dr. Conall Watson, warned.

The doctor further added that it is very crucial for children going to school to get vaccinated, not only to protect themselves but also to reduce the spread of the bug or the flu.

Dr. Watson also told the Times and continually warned parents with kids under two years old that RSV can be "severe," specifically for babies and those born prematurely.

The said virus can be easy to treat. However, it can become more serious without medical intervention.

Lifting of COVID-19 precautions may have caused the surge

It was noted that the level of the virus decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic because social contact was greatly reduced, and this might just be the reason why RSV has been particularly worse this year.

It may be early to know for sure but health experts do agree that the "earlier-than-usual surges are a consequence of the broad lifting of COVID-19 precautions."

Once restrictions began to loosen in the spring of last year, health experts were reported to have seen odd patterns of circulation of these viruses.

Dr. Madhavan explained that people returning to their pre-COVID social activities and interactions, travel and face to face teaching have all led to this dangerous spike.

The U.K. National Health Service reported that it has already successfully administered 13.2 million flu vaccinations since September, The Mirror reported.

Dr. You Li of the School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University in Nanjing, China and one of the researchers of the study on global, regional, and national disease burden estimates of RSV revealed that the virus killed 100,000 children under five years old every year worldwide.

Most of the deaths were said to occur in countries with low and middle income due to high population density, poor living conditions and limited access to healthcare.