A wave of the highly contagious respiratory virus is beginning to wash over the United States — sending large numbers of infants and toddlers to the hospital, the latest data shows.
The onset of RSV comes as the country heads toward a widespread virus outbreak and winter, and often marked by the spread of diseases such as Covil-19 and influenza. But RSV, the leading cause of pediatric hospitalizations nationwide, poses little risk to young children, a major health advisory recommends women who are pregnant or vaccinated near their delivery time or vaccinate their babies.
“This is the right time to get your RSV vaccine if you haven’t gotten one,” the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said in a statement.
RSV can be spread by coughing or sneezing but also by touching a contaminated surface, such as a doorknob, and then touching your face before washing your hands, health officials warn.
The week ending Oct. 11, about 1.2% of emergency room visits nationwide among infants under 1 were caused by RSV – according to 0.4% a month earlier, a project led by the Yale School of Public Health.
“The RSV wave is starting to take hold,” epidemiologists Kattn Jetelina and Hana Totte wrote on your local blog.
RSV can be dangerous to children, older adults and people with certain medical conditions, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. RSV can cause pneumonia, and severe inflammation of the small airways of the lungs, known as bronchiolitis, says the California Department of Health.
In general, about 2% to 3% of young infants will be hospitalized with RSV each year, according to the CDC. Most children hospitalized for 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 or be put on a ventilator to help them breathe, according to the CDC.
Unlike the flu and covid-19, there are no antiviral drugs to treat RSV once it is infected.
Currently, the combined activity of respiratory illness from RSV, influenza and covion-19 is considered “Very Low” in California, state health officials said.
But “We’re starting to see the beginning of the respiratory virus season, says the Department of Public Health.
Health authorities in Santa Clara County, Northern California, are already reporting levels of RSV in contaminated water in San José, Palo Alto.
Now is the perfect time to get vaccinated if you haven’t already — “especially before the virus spikes later,” said Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, Orange County Health Officer.
RSV vaccination is recommended for pregnant women between 32 and 36 weeks of gestation – approximately two months to 74 months of age in cases of diabetes, and those 75, and asthma or heart disease. Vaccines are also recommended for people living in a nursing home or long-term care facility.
If a pregnant woman is not vaccinated against RSV, officials recommend that her child be vaccinated.
New RSV vaccine, introduced in 2023. Now there are three brands – Mersvia’s Mersvia, GSK’s ABRYSVO’s ARXVY. All three can be used in older adults, but only the pfizer vaccine is available for pregnant women.
Infants were also immunized starting that year with monoclonal antibodies, which are not biological in concept but work in the same way this time.
Older adults who have already received an RSV vaccination usually do not need to receive another.
The arrival of that vaccine followed an apparently inspired 2022-23 rus season
Unlike the RSV shot, coverage and general immunizations are generally recommended before the entire respiratory season and Winter. Older adults, those age 65 and older, can get the covion vaccine every six months, according to the California Department of Health.
People can get RSV, influenza and other immunizations all during the same visit to a health care provider, Chinserio-Klong said.
“Getting all the right goals at the same time is considered the best thing, because it helps to avoid lost opportunities due to planning challenges,” he said.
The annual flu vaccine is recommended for everyone who is at least 6 years old.
As for Covid, the vaccine can be given to anyone who wants it. The California Department of Health specifically recommends the vaccine for everyone age 65 and older, children ages 6 to 23 months, children and teens who have never been vaccinated, and people with certain health conditions and those around them.
The California Department of Health also recommends pregnant women get the Coving vaccine.
After concerns earlier this season about how difficult it would be to get covild vaccines, pharmacists and health officials in California now say getting the shot is easy.
The debate arose in late summer amid confusion from agencies over health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
There was a time when the Food and Drug Administration approved 19-year-old vaccines only for those 65 and older and those with underlying health conditions. The unprecedented delay in the CDC issuing its own recommendations had the effect of sweetening the vaccine for many.
In some states, that meant that people turned to getting the vaccine at the local pharmacy, including the elderly, and even late summer planning was there. And at the same time, the CDC’s powerful Advisory Committee on Immunization Actions probably recommended Covil’s immunization drive to be available only by getting the drug.
On Oct
Now, “patients can come into the pharmacy” and have a discussion about the vaccination of Alison, director of pharmacy affairs of the American assem., said during a recent web.
California also recently clarified the federal law to ensure that pharmacists can independently provide the covion vaccine, according to Dr. Erica Pan, director of the Department of Public Health.
