Seattle Children’s seeing spike in RSV cases

SEATTLE — Hospitals across the country, including ones in Western Washington, are dealing with a spike in cases of RSV — respiratory syncytial virus — a common respiratory virus.

Seattle Children’s Hospital officials said they are seeing twice as many patients compared to a typical October, and the emergency department is sometimes running at 200% of its designed physical capacity.

Dr. Russell Migita, who works in Seattle Children’s emergency room, said the seasonal surge is coming earlier than usual. Normally, cases peak in February, but it currently appears they will peak in November.

He said the reason is that most children get RSV by the age of 2, but two seasons of widespread mask use and COVID-19 mandates delayed some RSV infections, and now a large group of children are all getting their first infection at the same time.

Migita said parents should not hesitate to take their children to the emergency room if they notice them having trouble breathing, such as persistently breathing faster than one breath per second.

“If you look at their body and their chest and abdomen are seesawing back and forth, if their breathing is making their whole body move, then that’s significant respiratory distress that needs to be seen,” said Migita.

RSV is easily transmissible.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus spreads through droplets from coughing and sneezing and on surfaces, which makes it easy to circulate among groups of children.

In the U.S., RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis — a lung infection — and pneumonia in children younger than 12 months old.

RSV cases are harder to track statewide because hospitals are not required to report them.

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