The dangers of respiratory syncytial virus in young children

Updated date: 08/15/2023 05:40:10

DTO - Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the main causes of respiratory diseases in all ages, especially in young children. This is a dangerous infectious disease. If not detected promptly, RSV virus can be fatal for children.

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Once the RSV virus enters the child's body, it will cause bronchiolitis. This is a lower respiratory tract infection that causes respiratory obstruction and can be fatal for children. The disease spreads quickly and often becomes more severe in patients who are plump or obese. After only 2-3 days of infection, children can easily fall into a state of difficulty breathing and can immediately lead to death due to complete airway obstruction.

The disease spreads very quickly through droplets, especially in nurseries and kindergartens... When sick children speak or sneeze, the droplets fall onto toys, clothes, tables and chairs... and infect healthy children.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, children's immune systems have generally changed, becoming more sensitive to the outside environment. This may be due to social isolation, with children having less contact with the environment. When returning to a new normal state , children are exposed to the environment again, but their resistance is weakened. The progression of the disease in each child is different, irregular and often severe.

Symptoms of RSV virus in children that parents need to pay attention to:

In mild cases, parents need to continuously monitor their child's breathing and ensure adequate nutrition. Children with RSV do not need antibiotics. Parents only need to pat and loosen phlegm for the child. By the 7th day, if there is no change, the child will be cured.

However, for children at high risk such as those with underlying diseases (congenital heart disease, malnutrition, chronic underlying diseases...), especially those with a plump or obese constitution, the disease will progress rapidly. Children need to be taken to medical facilities early for treatment according to appropriate regimens. Children need to use antibiotics to prevent secondary infections, vibrating ventilators, percussion to squeeze phlegm... At the same time, a reasonable diet is one of the important factors because in the case of RSV virus, the phlegm in the child's body is very thick, if they can eat milk, drink a lot of water, it will thin the phlegm, not cause airway obstruction, thereby making it easier to excrete. If the child cannot eat or drink, it is necessary to have the support of medical staff regarding diet, phlegm squeezing...

RSV is a virus that has no vaccine to prevent the disease in young children, the group with the highest risk and most dangerous. However, some of the following notes can be taken to proactively prevent it in current conditions:

It is a disease transmitted through droplets, so it is necessary to clean tables, toys, hands and feet before eating... This can greatly reduce the possibility of getting sick. Parents need to train children to wash their hands before eating, before and after going to the toilet, after coming home from school... In addition, children's clothes and toys need to be cleaned.

Parents need to pay attention to early detection of signs if any. At the onset, children infected with RSV virus have signs identical to rhinopharyngitis such as fever, cough, sneezing, runny nose... However, children with RSV have signs of wheezing very quickly due to difficulty breathing in the lower respiratory tract. This leads to symptoms of difficulty breathing, wheezing, breathing faster than normal... When parents observe that their child has a faster than normal breathing rate with a fever, they need to take the child to a medical facility immediately.

Children are considered to have rapid breathing when: for children under 2 months old, the breathing rate is over 60 times/minute; for children from 2 to 12 months old, the breathing rate is over 50 times/minute; for children from 1 year old, the breathing rate is over 40 times/minute.

My Hanh - CDC Dong Thap

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