Doctor lists types of infants at high risk for RSV
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – According to health experts, respiratory syncytial virus is more severe in children with certain pre-existing medical conditions, resulting in higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths.
News 8 spoke with Dr. John Christenson, associate medical director of infection prevention at Riley Children’s Health, who gives a list children in that group.
“You have to contend with children who have chronic lung problems or children who have chronic heart problems or if they have an immune deficiency like a child with cancer,” he said. “They are at a severe risk of having a severe infection with this respiratory virus when a normal child would probably be okay. So you have to protect them.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, parents can protect their child from RSV by avoiding close contact with sick people, having their family practice good hand hygiene, covering coughs and sneezes.