Tampa Bay area doctors and parents warn of increasing RSV cases this fall

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It’s something both doctors and parents want people to be aware of this fall—RSV, especially with COVID and flu in the mix.

Parents never want to see their children under the weather. That’s true too for Paula Marsell and her three-year-old son, Hunter.

“My son kind of already has a lot of predispositions to immuno-problems. He has a trach and stuff like that, so we actually had a nurse that was over at our house, and she noticed that he was just not really acting like himself,” said Marsell. “I noticed that his color was kind of off, like real pale, and he looked like he was kind of like shoulder shrugging and just looking like he’s working really hard to breathe.”

He’s in the hospital right now with RSV, something that’s spreading through the community.

In fact, according to Johns Hopkins All Children’s, 105 pediatric patients tested positive for RSV at their hospital last month.

“We have for several weeks seen an increase in the number of kids who’ve come into the emergency center with RSV infection, maybe four times higher than it was just a month ago,” said Dr. Juan Dumois, a Pediatric Infectious Diseases physician at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Dumois said RSV is very common, but it can be a big problem for young children.

“I can get RSV too, and I’ll have congestion, and I’ll have increased mucus in my lungs, but I can usually handle it better,” said Dumois. “A tiny baby who gets RSV, that same degree of inflammation and mucus production in the airways and in the lungs can totally obstruct the airways.”

Symptoms can include coughing, fever, runny nose, and sneezing.

The American Academy of Pediatrics said it recommends a single dose of nirsevimab, a new preventative antibody, for both infants younger than eight months born during or going into their first RSV season, as well as infants and children 8 through 19 months who are at an increased risk of severe RSV disease and going into their second RSV season.

For now, Marsell just hopes her son starts feeling better as soon as possible.

“Today, he’s still kind of in the worst phases of it,” said Marsell. “RSV is kind of one of those things that tends to get a little bit worse before it gets better.”

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