After A Year Without, RSV Outbreak Spreads Through Crown Heights
by CrownHeights.info
During the COVID-19 pandemic, all ailments other than the dreaded virus appeared to disappear. The yearly flu epidemic never materialized and many childhood illnesses never reared their heads. One of these was known disappeared illnesses was RSV.
Respiratory Syncytial Virus, commonly known as RSV, typically contracted by children before the age of two, causes symptoms like runny nose, cough and fever, and is usually an unconcerning phenomenon.
But for some RSV can lead to more serious illness in very young babies, whose lungs are smaller and who have no immunity to the virus. According to the CDC, more than 57,000 children below the age of 5 are hospitalized with RSV each year. Between 100 and 500 children die of RSV each year.
This year, the virus season came about unusually, with few cases during the winter months – when it is usually more prevalent – and instead began raging around the Jewish communities around Pesach time.
According to new York City’s Health Department, there were only ten cases of RSV reported in Brooklyn during the last week of February, contracting sharply to the week of April 4th where there were an explosive 294.
Since then, local Hatzalah chapters and hospitals have faced an onslaught of young babies being rushed to the hospital with severe RSV.
Crown Heights was no different, with Hatzalah sirens wailing at all times of day and a marked uptick in children being hospitalized.
The reason for the RSV “outbreak” is not fully known, but many theorize it has something to do with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Nursing mothers, who would [typically] protect their children through passive immunity, aren’t able to give that robust immunity to their children this year because the mothers were not exposed to these viral illnesses last year as they usually are,” Dr. Israel Ziskind told the JTA. “Also, a lot of the toddlers who get mild illness skipped the typical RSV season last year, have no immunity to RSV, and thus pass it to their siblings or neighbors.”
The hyper protective measures put in place during last years pandemic might now be having a negative side effect on the children’s immune systems, making them susceptible to much of what we may have safely ignored in years before.
Any difficulty breathing or other RSV symptoms in newborns and young children should be evaluated by the child’s primary care provider. If you feel your child may be in immanent danger, call Hatzalah right away.
