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Home › Articles › Illnesses, Diseases & Disorders › RSV

RSV

Battling the Wintertime Bug

By Rachel Dickinson

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In more severe cases of RSV, hospitalization becomes necessary. Last year, 90,000 babies required hospitalization for the virus.

While in the hospital, RSV-infected babies are connected to a pulse oximeter. This is a machine that measures the oxygen saturation in the blood, which indicates how effectively a baby is breathing – 100 percent is normal. If a baby's "pulse-ox" measures below 95 percent, she will be kept under an oxygen tent where a mist of humidified oxygen will be administered. The baby might also receive vigorous breathing treatments, such as with Albuterol, to help open the airways. If the doctor is concerned about dehydration, the baby may be given fluids intravenously.

There is also one antiviral treatment approved for RSV. But generally, it is not used, and patients are given supportive care and then discharged when their symptoms decrease.

Who's at Risk?
Some babies are more susceptible to developing a serious RSV infection than others. Babies in the higher risk category include those who were born prematurely, are less than 6 weeks old, have congenital heart disease, suffer from chronic lung conditions (such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia and cystic fibrosis) or who have compromised immune systems. Other factors that can put infants in a higher risk category are crowded living conditions, exposure to cigarette smoke, attendance in daycare, presence of older siblings in the home and not being breastfed.

During the first two years of an extremely premature infant's life, a pediatrician might decide to administer an antibody once a month during the RSV season, which will make the disease much milder.

An Ounce of Prevention
"The most important thing parents and daycare providers can do is to learn about RSV and then learn about prevention – particularly handwashing," says Dr. Rao. RSV is very contagious and is easily transmitted through the air, through contact with nasal secretions and even through contact with contaminated objects such as clothing. Once RSV is contracted, the incubation period is three to five days.


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Re: RSV by Shannon on 12/01/2008 01:14AM

My daughter has RSV now and you can tell how uncomfortable it is for her. She is miserable.

Re: RSV by anonymous on 11/14/2008 09:03AM

My son had RSV when he was 2 weeks old, but we had no way of telling, he was just "not right" as I put it to the hospital, so they checked his oxygen rate with the machine, as they do any time a baby is brought in. They tried four machines because they thought it was broken, the number should have been at 99 percent, my son was at 24 percent. They said if that is the real number, he should be blue, and technically almost dead. It was a big surprise. They admitted him right away, and two hours later, told me it was RSV. He was in the hospital for three weeks, then they sent us home. My son was on oxygen tanks for another six weeks after that. He wasn't wheezing, or coughing, no runny nose, he was just "not right." I thank the heavens for mother's instinct, as RSV is very hard to detect sometimes, and in my case, I hadn't even heard of it until after my son was already in the hospital.

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