2023-05-14 18:08:05
Photo: VCG
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases have prevailed among children in Shanghai in recent days, with the proportion of RSV diagnoses exceeding those of COVID-19 and influenza, due to the broadening of the scope of human activities after China has downgraded the handling of COVID-19, medicine experts noted.
RSV, a virus that causes symptoms similar to those caused by COVID-19 and the flu, including fever, cough, sore throat and muscle aches, recently caused panic among parents in Shanghai. for the suffering it causes their children, with many parents sharing online their children’s battle with the disease, including a severe cough, asthma attack and pneumonia, the Shanghai Observer reported on Sunday.
According to Cao Qing, director of infectious diseases at Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, the proportion of children admitted to hospital with RSV has exceeded that of COVID-19 and influenza, with half showing the symptom of breathing. hissing.
However, experts have also noted that RSV is a self-limited disease that can be treated with common treatment and parents need not panic.
According to the expert, people of all ages can contract the disease, but children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems are the high-risk groups.
The incubation period for the disease is usually between two and eight days after contracting the disease. Early infection of the disease is mainly confined to the upper respiratory tract, with clinical manifestations such as nasal congestion, runny nose, cough and hoarseness.
Most symptoms in children infected with RSV resolve on their own within one to two weeks. Only a small number may progress to lower respiratory tract infection, with major manifestations such as bronchiolitis or pneumonia. Such cases are most often observed in infants under 2 years of age. And very few cases can be further aggravated by shortness of breath and difficulty eating.
According to the expert, RSV can be spread by infected patients with or without symptoms through contact or through coughing and sneezing. Thus, the disease usually prevails in winter and spring, however, it prevailed in April this year, since the self-protection measures such as wearing the mask during the COVID-19 epidemic at the end of the last year have also prevented the spread of RSV.
Meanwhile, children have developed less immunity to the virus due to reduced exposure to the pathogen during the outbreak, while degraded management of COVID-19 has widened the realm of human activities and increased the gathering of staff, which caused the off-season prevalence of RSV, experts say. explain.
world times
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