Renown Health wants to educate parents and seniors about respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.
Officials said it's usually a winter infection but this year it's spreading.
Clinicians should test for the virus if kids show up sneezing, wheezing or with poor appetites and inflamed throats.
RSV can lead to bronchiolitis, pneumonia or both. Symptoms include difficulty breathing, wheezing, coughing, lethargy, increased tiredness, decreased interest in surroundings or loss of interest in food.
You can catch the virus by:
- Touching a contaminated surface and then touching your face without washing you hands. The virus can survive more than six hours on countertops and hard surfaces. It can survive 30 minutes on hands, clothing or tissue.
- Close contact with an infected person
- Being in a crowded setting with people who are infected. The incubation period ranges from two to eight days but usually is six to four days.
People are most likely to spread the virus within the first several days after symptoms begin and remain contagious for up to eight days. Babies and young children may spread it for at least three to four weeks. Most children and adults feel better after a week or two.
Home treatment is usually all that is needed but parents and seniors should watch out for complications.
Call your doctor if your child:
- Breathes slightly faster than normal
- Has cold symptoms that become severe
- Has shallow coughing
- Has poor appetite or is less active than usual
- Has any trouble breathing
There is no vaccine for RSV.Â
