HOUSTON – The American Lung Association is warning Texans after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory following an increase of respiratory syncytial virus, commonly known as RSV.
RSV usually causes mild to moderate cold-like symptoms. If not addressed quickly, RSV can develop into a much more serious infection. It is a common respiratory virus that can infect people of all ages.
According to the CDC’s advisory, health officials have seen an increase in RSV cases in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
RSV affects nearly all babies by the age of 2 and is the leading cause of hospitalizations for babies during their first year of life. The virus season typically occurs from fall through spring but can vary by geography and year to year. Parents should look out for persistent coughing or wheezing; bluish color around the lips, mouth or fingernails; rapid, difficult or gasping breaths; and a fever.
The Lung Association is urging parents to watch for the following symptoms of RSV in their children, which include:
- Mild cold symptoms like congestion, runny nose, fever, cough and sore throat. Very young infants may be irritable, fatigued and have breathing difficulties. Normally these symptoms will clear up on their own in a few days.
- A barking or wheezing cough can be one of the first signs of a more serious illness. In these instances, the virus has spread to the lower respiratory tract, causing inflammation of the small airways entering the lungs. This can lead to pneumonia or bronchiolitis.
- Infants with severe RSV will have short, shallow and rapid breathing. This can be identified by “caving-in” of the chest in between the ribs and under the ribs (chest wall retractions), “spreading-out” of the nostrils with every breath (nasal flaring), and abnormally fast breathing. In addition, their mouth, lips and fingernails may turn a bluish color due to lack of oxygen.
- When to call a doctor: You should call your doctor if you or your child is having trouble breathing, has a poor appetite or decreased activity level, cold symptoms that become severe, or a shallow cough that continues throughout the day and night.
HOW DO YOU TREAT RSV?
According to Dr. Bonnie Colville, you can only treat symptoms right now. However, she’s on a mission to change that.
In Bellaire and Tomball, researchers with DM Clinical are working on the first ever vaccine for RSV.
“This is really groundbreaking research because I think after seeing COVID, most people would agree with this, we want to prevent any type of pandemic associated with a virus or any other infection as much as possible,” said Dr. Bonnie Colville, DM Clinical Research Investigator.
The Janssen based study involves a preventative vaccine being offered for the first time ever in the U.S. The clinic is seeking adults 60 plus for a Phase 3 study: https://mailchi.mp/dmclinicalresearch.com/rsv