Doctors urge Hoosiers to mask up, wash hands to protect kids from RSV
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Local pediatricians say preventive measures like those employed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic will help prevent the spread of a respiratory illness that is particularly dangerous for young children and infants.
Mask-wearing, handwashing, and staying home when sick will help limit the spread of the Respiratory Syncytial Virus, which hospitalizes about 60,000 children under the age of 5 each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Virtually all children will be infected with RSV by the time they are 2 years old, the CDC says, and infections generally spike in the fall and winter months. The virus usually causes a mild, cold-like illness. In more severe cases, it can lead to bronchiolitis or pneumonia.
RSV is particularly dangerous in infants because it alters the way babies breathe, which can cause problems with eating and lead to dehydration.
Pediatricians at Ascension St. Vincent tell News 8 that this year will see a higher number of RSV infections because many people have dropped the precautions that kept the virus at bay during the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr. Kay Sichting, the pediatric intensive care unit director at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, says infants aren’t the only children being hospitalized because of RSV.
“We’re seeing toddlers getting sicker than we’ve seen previously and they end up getting hospitalized when usually they’re just at home with a bad cold. Then we’re also seeing, of course, our infants that we see every time RSV comes around,” Sichting said.
Symptoms of RSV include a runny nose, decreased appetite, and cough which may lead to wheezing.
Visit the CDC website for more information on RSV in young children and how to prevent it.