Virus mimics cold
Jennifer Hill thought her 8-month-old son just had a nasty cold in December.
But Hill got worried when the cold lingered and little Cameron’s drippy nose and slight cough turned into lethargy, lack of appetite and wheezing.
Her pediatrician ordered a test, and it came back positive for something the 24-year-old Spokane mom had hardly ever heard of — RSV or respiratory syncytial virus, the leading cause of hospitalization for infants under one year.
Cameron ended up staying three days in the hospital, spending time under an oxygen tent and undergoing breathing treatments.
“It was scary,” Hill says. “I didn’t know what to expect.”
Right now is prime time for RSV infections, though area doctors say they aren’t seeing above-average numbers of cases this year.
“RSV comes pretty much every year,” says Dr. Stephen Luber, a Rockwood Clinic pediatrician. “It comes between December and February, and when it comes, it does come with a vengeance.”
Premature infants and those with chronic lung disease are most at risk for serious RSV infection. The infection can also strike the elderly and people with compromised immune systems.
But, in many cases, RSV can hit otherwise healthy babies. It is most serious in infants under 6 months of age.
Just about all children will be infected with RSV by their third birthdays, experts say. Between 25 to 40 percent of them will show signs of bronchiolitis or pneumonia, and up to 2 percent of them will require hospitalization, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Even once children are hospitalized with RSV, there’s little that can be done except to maintain good oxygen levels and let the virus run its course, Luber says. In some cases that takes a few days, and in others it takes a few weeks, he says.
“Everybody wants to do something. Unfortunately the most important thing to do is wait,” Luber says.
There is no vaccine for RSV, although research is currently being done.
One drug, Synagis, which is used to prevent RSV infection in high-risk patients, underwent clinical trials in Spokane, under Luber. But the drug is expensive and must be injected monthly during RSV season.
As with colds, RSV is spread when an infected person sneezes or coughs. The virus can flourish in close quarters, such as child-care centers, where kids chew on the same toys and sneeze and cough without washing their hands.
Cameron Hill goes to the same Spokane Valley day care center as his cousin Hunter Napier. Hunter, who is the same age as Cameron, also contracted RSV at the same time, says his mom, Stephanie Napier.
Cameron’s case was less severe, however, and he didn’t need to be hospitalized. But he did need breathing treatments every four hours for two weeks, until his wheezing subsided.
RSV often comes into the home through older siblings, who may pick it up at school. That’s why proper “virus etiquette” is so important this time of year.
Cover your face when you cough or sneeze. Wash your hands and make sure your children wash theirs, says Mary Petty a registered nurse and epidemiologist with the Panhandle Health District.
And try to keep the virus contained, she says.
“When your child is sick, keep them at home,” Petty says. “Even with older kids, don’t be letting them go to school if they’re coughing all over the place.
“That’s a hard concept for our society to deal with because we’ve always been told, ‘If you’re half-dead, you’ve got to work.’ … We’re now finding out that wasn’t the best recommendation for folks.”