Munson Healthcare Seeing “Steady Stream” of RSV in Doctor’s Offices, ER

Across the country hospitals are seeing their beds filled with children with RSV.

“RSV is a virus and particularly gains conversation and attention primarily because of what it causes in children and that’s Bronchiolitis,” said Munson Healthcare System Medical Director for Pediatrics Dr. Jacques Burgess. “The big topic of discussion, and what people are really asking about right now, is bronchiolitis in children or respiratory illness in children, an illness that effects the lower respiratory tract but also has upper airwave symptoms particularly in the very young.”

Dr. Burgess says this is the time of year that children especially get sick with respiratory illnesses like RSV.

“A lot of nasal congestion, a lot of difficultly breathing,” he said. The smaller those airwaves are in children, the younger children that is, the harder they tend to be hit, and the more struggle they seem to have.”

Right now, Dr. Burgess says they’re not seeing the volume of patients that downstate hospitals may be seeing, but they’re still seeing a lot of the virus.

“We are seeing a significant number of patients in our emergency department, we’re seeing a significant number of patients in our physician’s offices,” he said. “Around 20% of the patients, on average, end up with an admission to the hospital.”

At daycares across the region, like Joyful Hearts Early Learning Center, they’re seeing RSV in their kids, on top of other seasonal illnesses.

“We have seen three to four cases of RSV, and we saw quite a bit last year, as well,” said teacher Pam Haley. “We kind of hoped it would not come back but it did.”

Haley said they take every precaution this time of year, like deep cleaning and reporting to parents.

“We do the carpets, we keep spraying tables and high chairs and all the toys every day,” said Haley. “Every time we hear of a case, we send out alerts to let all parents know what’s going on, and it’s up to them to decide if they want to bring their children in or not.”

Still, the virus is a concern for their daycare.

“The littles…they’re so susceptible to have germs passing through,” Haley said. “Not only with RSV, but pneumonia and the flu coming around now.”