The respiratory virus season has started early in kids this year and flooded children’s hospitals in many parts of the country – especially with respiratory syncytial virus, known as RSV. But adults can get RSV, too. Although RSV does not typically send as many adults to the hospital, it can be a serious and even deadly disease for seniors and people with underlying health conditions. And with more kids getting RSV, the chances that adults will be exposed also rise. Some doctors say they are starting to see an uptick in adult patients. A mother uses a mobile phone as her daughter sleeps in bed. lev dolgachov/Adobe Stock What parents should watch for with respiratory illness and when it’s time to go to the ER This season, about 6 out of every 100,000 seniors has been hospitalized with RSV, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s significantly lower than the rate for children but still uncharacteristically high. In the years before the Covid-19 pandemic, hospitalization rates for seniors were about 10 times lower at this point in the season. Dr. Ann Falsey, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Rochester Medical Center who has published research on RSV in adults, said RSV rose somewhat in children in the summer and early fall last year, but the US did not see the usual proportional increase in R The respiratory virus season has started early in kids this year and flooded children’s hospitals in many parts of the country – especially with respiratory syncytial virus, known as RSV. But adults can get RSV, too. Although RSV does not typically send as many adults to the hospital, it can a serious and even deadly diseaseVirus flies under the radar in adults. Too often, RSV flies under the radar in adults, she said. Many people, even doctors, overlook its impact on adults. “They think of it as strictly a pediatric disease, but you know, if you don’t test for it, you’ll never know what somebody actually is sick with,” Falsey said. In the United States, tracking viruses like RSV isn’t nearly as thorough as it is for Covid-19, so it is difficult to know exactly how many adults get sick each year with RSV R adults shows similar symptoms: run-ofthe mill coldlike illnesses such coughing (Photo by Mark Rightmirer) Orange County Health Official Declare Emergency Over Respiratory Iris On November 1, 2022, California’s Orange County declared a public health emergency due to increases in respiratory illnesses and an onslaught of the quickly spreading RSV—a respiratory virus most dangerous to young infant Contrary to popular belief,
The number of seniors hospitalized with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is 10 times higher than usual for this point in the season, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
