Respiratory Illness Surge: Differentiating and Treating RSV, COVID, and Flu in Children
Concern about a respiratory ‘triple-demic.’
Electron micrograph image of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)/Image source: CDC
Take a walk through many of the country’s pediatric emergency departments (EDs) and inpatient units right now and you will be greeted with the sounds of pinging monitors, suction, and coughing as “respiratory season” settles in.
This will be the first fall and winter that many young children have been back at schools and day cares, largely unmasked, in nearly three years. While respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza are yearly problems in pediatrics, an unseasonably early and severe surge in RSV is causing an unprecedented number of hospital admissions that is already straining many health systems.
Public health officials are already warning of a “triple-demic” this year as the current RSV surge coalesces with expected rises in influenza and COVID cases. This, of course, does not include the dozens of other respiratory viruses that affect children each winter, including the atypically severe cases of rhinoviruses/enteroviruses and parainfluenza that have already been reported this year.
RSV, influenza, COVID have subtly different symptoms.
While RSV, COVID, and influenza are all viral infections that cause acute respiratory symptoms, they can present with subtly different symptoms. […]