Chronicle
A massive increase in infections with the RS virus is currently being recorded in Upper Austria. It is a respiratory disease that can lead to a severe course, especially in small children.
The RS virus, known in technical English as “respiratory syncicial virus”, is currently the trigger for numerous respiratory diseases. Since the beginning of October, the number of proven cases has been increasing sharply across Austria. At that time, the number of positive proofs at the Center for Virology at the University of Vienna was still well below ten percent of the samples examined. By early November, that figure had risen to 20 percent. Most cases are currently occurring in Upper Austria. More than 50 percent of suspected cases are now positive.
Exceptionally large number of young children affected
The number of infected small children in Upper Austria has been increasing significantly for about two weeks, according to Upper Austria. health holding. In the Wels-Grieskirchen clinic, six to eight small patients with this respiratory infection are now being treated constantly. In the Salzkammergut Clinic, two-thirds of all child patients are currently infected with it, and half in the Pyhrn-Eisenwurzen Clinic. There are 20 cases in the Linz Children’s Hospital, more than in two decades. The trend is rising.
Babies are particularly at risk, explains Walter Bonfig, head of paediatrics at the Wels-Grieskirchen clinic. In children under the age of one year, there is an infection of the small airways, which is very dangerous. You have difficulty breathing and rarely drink. What is striking, however, is that not only babies are badly affected this year, but also a large number of small children.
Corona measures as an additional reason
The unusually high number of affected small children is a result of the pandemic measures. As a result, children two years of age hardly or not at all came into contact with RS viruses and therefore have no protection. Typically, 95 percent of children will have at least one exposure to RSV by the time they are two years old, says Bonfig. After that, there are only reinfections that are less severe. It’s the same with adults. Now many children are often three years old when they are first infected.
immune system unprepared
Severe courses can be observed again and again among the infected children, and some of the children have to be treated in the intensive care unit. They often find it difficult to breathe and need oxygen and respiratory support. Adults are also repeatedly infected with RS viruses. With them, however, the infection usually runs like a mild cold. The flu numbers are currently more problematic here – because they are also rising again significantly because our immune system has not been trained due to the corona protective measures, according to the Austrian health insurance company, which continues to recommend flu vaccination.