A wave of highly contagious respiratory syncytial virus is sweeping across the United States, sending more infants and children to the hospital, according to recent data.
The RSV outbreak comes as the country moves into the broader fall and winter respiratory virus season, which typically sees increased circulation of diseases like COVID-19 and the flu. But RSV, a leading cause of infant hospitalizations nationwide, can be especially dangerous for the youngest babies, a key reason why health experts recommend that pregnant women get vaccinated around the time they give birth or to vaccinate their newborns.
“If you have never received the RSV vaccine, now is the perfect time to get it,” the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said in a statement to the Times.
RSV can spread through coughing or sneezing, but it can also spread through: inspiring Touching a contaminated surface, such as a door handle, and then touching your face before washing your hands, health officials warn.
RSV accounted for about 1.2% of emergency room visits among infants and toddlers under 1 year of age nationwide during the week ending Oct. 11, according to the data. This is an increase from 0.4% a month ago. Posted by PopHIVEThis is a project led by the Yale School of Public Health.
“The RSV wave is beginning to take hold,” epidemiologists Katelyn Jetelina and Hannah Totte wrote. blog Local epidemiologist.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), RSV can be dangerous for infants, older adults, and people with certain medical conditions. RSV can cause pneumonia as well as serious inflammation of the small airways in the lungs, known as bronchiolitis, the California Department of Public Health said.
“The problem for children is that their airways are so small that if they become inflamed, it’s very difficult to breathe,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UC San Francisco. “So they come in wheezing, and that’s where the problem arises.”
Nationally, RSV can kill up to 300 children under 5 years of age and send up to 80,000 to the hospital each year. For people over 65, the virus could cause up to 10,000 deaths and up to 160,000 hospitalizations each year. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“I think this was kind of invisible because people didn’t test for RSV until recently. We weren’t able to test for RSV until the era of molecular diagnostics,” Chin-Hong said. “So it has become a kind of invisible epidemic.”
RSV is “a sort of bronze medalist in the respiratory viruses category, coming in first and second for COVID and influenza, and RSV is third for older people,” he added. Typically, RSV appears first in the fall and winter virus season, followed by the flu and then coronavirus, Chin-Hong said.
Before vaccinations became available, approximately 2 to 3 percent of young infants were vaccinated. be hospitalized For RSV annuallyAccording to the CDC. Most children hospitalized with acute respiratory illness caused by RSV were previously healthy, according to a study published in the journal pediatrics.
They may need oxygen or intravenous fluids and may be placed on a ventilator to help them breathe, according to the CDC.
Unlike the flu or COVID-19, there are no antiviral medications to treat RSV infection.
currently combined activity California health officials say the rate of respiratory illness caused by RSV, flu and COVID-19 is considered “very low.”
But the L.A. County Department of Public Health said “respiratory virus season is starting to get underway.”
Health officials in Santa Clara County, Northern California’s most populous county, are already reporting “moderate” levels of RSV in wastewater in San Jose, Palo Alto and Sunnyvale.
Orange County Health Officer Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong said now is the time to get vaccinated if you haven’t already, “especially before a potential increase in respiratory virus activity later in life.”
RSV vaccination is recommended for pregnant women at 32 to 36 weeks of gestation (approximately 1 to 2 months before the due date), as well as anyone 75 years of age or older and 50 to 74 years of age with an underlying medical condition such as diabetes, cancer, kidney disease, a weakened immune system, asthma, or heart disease. The vaccine is also recommended for individuals living in nursing homes or long-term care facilities.
If a pregnant woman has not been vaccinated against RSV, authorities recommend that the baby be vaccinated.
The RSV vaccine is fairly new and will be introduced in 2023. There are currently three vaccinations available. brand — Pfizer’s Abrysvo and GSK’s Arexvy were licensed in May 2023, and Moderna’s mResvia was licensed in June 2024. All three can be used in older people, but Pfizer vaccine Pregnant women can also use it.
Infants could be vaccinated from that year onward, in this case with a monoclonal antibody that, although technically not a vaccine, functions similarly.
Older adults who have already been vaccinated against RSV usually do not need to receive additional vaccinations.
The arrival of these vaccines follows a particularly brutal 2022-23 respiratory virus season in which California was hit by a “triple epidemic” of RSV, flu and COVID that put a strain on hospitals.
Unlike RSV vaccinations, flu and COVID-19 vaccinations are generally recommended before the start of the fall and winter viral respiratory seasons. According to the California Department of Public Health, people ages 65 and older can get a COVID-19 vaccine every six months.
People can get RSV, flu and COVID vaccinations all during the same visit to their health care provider, Chinsio-Kwong said.
“It is considered best practice to administer all eligible vaccines at once because it helps prevent missed opportunities due to scheduling issues,” she said.
Studies have shown that RSV vaccination is effective.
RSV hospitalization rates in babies decreased significantly during last year’s respiratory virus season; data show. Data show that RSV vaccine ineffective It is aimed at preventing symptomatic diseases in the elderly.
Chin-Hong suggested that “everyone should get this juice” if they’re over 75, and for people ages 50 to 74 who have heart or lung disease or are very immunocompromised, “I think this juice is worth squeezing.”
A routine flu vaccine is recommended every year for everyone at least 6 months of age.
For COVID-19, the vaccine is available to anyone who wants it. In particular, the California Department of Public Health recommend This vaccine is for everyone over 65 years of age, babies 6 to 23 months of age, unvaccinated children and adolescents, people with certain health risk factors and their close contacts.
The California Department of Public Health recommends that pregnant women also receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
After concerns earlier this season about how difficult it would be to get a COVID-19 vaccine, pharmacists and California health officials say it is now relatively easy to secure a shot.
The controversy erupted in late summer amid confusing guidance from the agency overseen by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has disparaged vaccinations.
There was a period when the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety belatedly approved the COVID-19 vaccine only for young people aged 65 or older with underlying diseases. The CDC’s unprecedented delay in issuing its own recommendations has left many people unable to get vaccinated.
In some states, that meant people, including seniors, were being denied COVID vaccines at local pharmacies despite a late summer surge. And at one point, the powerful CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices almost recommended that COVID vaccines be available only by prescription.
On October 6, Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill formally withdrew the agency’s recommendation that adults under 65 get the updated COVID-19 vaccine, saying they should instead base it on “individual-based decision-making” in consultation with medical experts.
Now, “patients can go to the pharmacy” and have a conversation with a professional about whether to get the COVID-19 vaccine, Allison Hill, director of professional affairs for the American Pharmacists Assn., said in a recent webinar.
California recently clarified state law to allow pharmacists to independently administer COVID vaccines, according to California Department of Public Health Director Dr. Erica Pan.
