About RSV

What is Bronchiolitis?

It is a viral infection of the lungs, leading to the inflammation of the smallest lung airways. It is usually caused by the Respiratory Syncitial Virus (RSV).

It affects both infants and elderly, namely RSV is an important cause of pneumonia in older adults. There is increased risk of RSV infection in older adults who are in regular contact with small children. Awareness of RSV in older adults is almost absent, which also includes adult physicians who rarely attempt to diagnose the disease. Every year about 3-6% of all older adults are infected with RSV. Course of disease is most severe on older adults with severe underlying disease such as heart failure or COPD. If these patients with severe underlying disease are hospitalized about 8% may even die. RSV infection can be diagnosed by PCR on respiratory swabs. There is no treatment or vaccination for RSV infection in older adults. Currently, there are several vaccines in clinical development with the purpose to prevent severe RSV infection in older adults.

However, primarily babies between 3-6 months of age are at risk due to their undeveloped lungs, which is why in the sections below the information will be targeted for babies.

What should I know about RSV?

The RS virus is highly contagious.
Babies, small children and elderly people are most at risk.
RSV can cause upper respiratory infections (such as colds) and lower respiratory tract infections (such as bronchiolitis and pneumonia).
You can be infected with RSV several times during your lifetime. After each RSV infection, your body becomes more immune to the virus, but you are never completely immune.

What are the symptoms of RSV?

The first symptoms a baby have are the same as a common cold and recover with ease.

However, if the condition worsens, the symptoms may include:

Wheezing, rapid breathing, gasping for breath
Exhaustion
Dehydration
Bluish color around the mouth and fingernails
Chest in-drawing with each breath and/or widening nostrils

Who is at an increased risk for RSV?

In their first year of life babies are at an increased risk of a severe RSV infection compared to older children of adults, because their bodies have not yet produced enough antibodies.

Research shows that 10% of all children visits a doctor because of an RSV infection. 1% of all children are hospitalised, of which 10% end up in ICU.

Healthy term babies are least at risk for severe RSV infection. Certain groups however, are at significant higher risk:

premature babies (< 37 weeks gestation)

infants with chronic lung diseases, such as broncho-pulmonary dysplasia or cystic fibrosis
infants with Down Syndrome

Furthermore, there are certain risk factors that – to a greater or lesser degree – play a role:

month of birth (August-February);
presence of older siblings;
exposure of the baby to cigarette smoke;
bottle feeding instead of breast feeding; eczema
genetic predisposition to asthma, eczema of hay fever
babies born right before or during RSV season
older siblings that spend time at highly contagious places such as schools and child-care centres, are often a source of infection for the new-born

What are the long-term consequences of RSV?

Even after the RSV infection itself has gone, a serious infection can cause health problems for a long period of time and have a significant impact on the quality of life of the child and its family. Severe RSV cases are associated with a greater risk of recurrent wheezing in pre-schoolers, and with asthma and impaired respiratory function in school-aged children.

What measures can be taken to minimize the risk of severe RSV disease?

A RSV infection cannot be prevented.

Every child is infected before they reach the age of two. It is easy to catch the virus in places like waiting rooms or child-care centers. The virus easily spreads from one person to another, usually via airborne droplets containing the virus, produced when the person who is infected sneezes or coughs. RSV can survive on hard surfaces for many hours.

However, you can take preventive measures to reduce the chance of RSV infection in the first 3 to 6 months of a baby’s life by:

Keep the baby away from people with a cold;
Only touching the baby with washed hands;
Not smoking near the baby;
If possible, choose breast feeding over bottle feeding.

Click here if you would want to know more information about RSV and the helpful steps you can take to protect your baby from an RSV infection!