Magdalena Okarska-Napierała, a doctor at the Warsaw Medical University (WUM), told the news agency “there has been a wave of seasonal, non-COVID infections, including the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which has been raging through the world on an unprecedented scale.”
She added: “There are more and more infections among children, some of whom, especially the youngest ones, have very severe symptoms."
Okarska-Napierała said the RSV virus re-emerged after COVID-19-related restrictions were eased, and was "now doubly strong."
“Children with RSV are filling up our ward and the same is true of other hospitals," she added.
Asked about the symptoms of the RSV virus, Okarska-Napierała, who is a pediatrician, said older children typically suffered runny noses and coughs.
Meanwhile, many younger children "initially have runny noses, but then get a suffocating cough and are being admitted to hospitals on a mass scale, needing oxygen and intravenous fluid therapy," Okarska-Napierała warned.
“RSV has always been very dangerous to the youngest children, infants several months of age, but now the virus has reached an extraordinary scale, with entire families becoming ill," Okarska-Napierała also said, as quoted by the PAP news agency.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP