US health officials have expressed concern about the simultaneous rise in infections and cases in the Delta respiratory syncytial virusIt is a highly contagious seasonal flu-like illness that is more likely to affect children and the elderly.
RSV cases have been rising gradually since early June, with an even greater rise in the past month, according to data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease, which can cause symptoms including runny nose, coughing, sneezing and fever, usually begins to spread in the fall, making this summer’s surge unusual.
In the series of posts on TwitterDr. Heather Haq, a pediatrician at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, described an increase in both coronavirus and RSV in hospitals.
“After several months with no or few pediatric cases of Covid, we are seeing children, children and teens with Covid flocking back into the hospital, more and more every day,” she wrote, adding that patients ranged in age from two weeks to 17 years, including That’s some people with Covid pneumonia.
“We are at the front of a huge wave of the spread of Covid,” wrote Dr Haq, who could not be reached for comment on Sunday. “We now have large numbers of severely ill infant/child winter patients with RSV, and I’m concerned we are running out of beds and staff to deal with the surge as demand increases.”
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RSV cases in Texas began increasing in early June and appeared to peak in mid-July, according to data from State Ministry of Health.
There was a similar rise in Florida, where infections were “higher than those seen at this time in years past,” according to the monitoring report.
In Louisiana, where cases have jumped 244 percent in the last two weeksOur Lady of the Lake Hospital for Children in Baton Rouge approached capacity on Friday. CNN reported.
“You start with the epidemic for the last 18 months, then RSV for the last two months,” Dr. Trey Dunbar, chief of the hospital, told the network. “It seems like one thing after another is keeping our teams very busy.”
In Oklahoma, which has also seen a rise in RSV cases, beds are becoming scarce in hospitals.
Cameron Mantor, chief medical officer at Children’s Hospital of Oklahoma at OU Health . said Dr Oklahoma That in the past two months, RSV cases in the state have been “largely off the charts.”
“RSV is a real issue now,” he told the newspaper. “What would happen if we actually had an increase in Covid cases in children?”
The rise comes as new coronavirus infections have risen by 148 percent in the United States over the past two weeks, and hospitalizations have increased by 73 percent, according to the New York Times data. The increase in MERS-CoV infections is largely due to the highly contagious delta variant and to low vaccination rates in some states.
“I am concerned that when children return to school as the delta spreads, we will see major school outbreaks not seen in previous waves, disproportionately affecting children,” Dr. Haq wrote. “I have been caring for pediatric patients with Covid in hospital throughout the pandemic, but this time with unvaccinated and susceptible children as well as the delta variant, we will see more Covid admissions for children.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott bans local governments and State agencies of mandating Covid vaccines Local officials have been prohibited from ordering face masks.
Florida may face similar challenges with viruses when the school year begins. Governor Ron DeSantis has spoken out against new concealment recommendations from the CDC, with his office saying in a statement last week that “parents know what’s best for their children.”
An increase in RSV cases has also been reported in places such as New ZealandWhere it is winter now. Experts there say children may be more vulnerable than usual to viruses and seasonal infections because they were less exposed to germs during lockdowns early in the pandemic.
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