Virus fatal to infants

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    By VALERIE O’BAR

    Parents of young children should be aware of a dangerous virus affecting infants along the Wasatch front. The virus, which affects adults only as a mild cold, has the potential, if untreated, to be fatal for infants.

    The seriousness of the virus and the increasing number of infections has alerted pediatricians, health centers and parents in Utah and Salt Lake Counties, and other local areas.

    Respiratory syncytial virus is described by Carrie Burke, a nurse at Utah Valley Pediatrics in Provo, as “a really bad cold gone haywire.” The virus is similar to a common cold, but manifests itself more seriously in infants under one year old, Burke said. She said that while Utah Valley Pediatrics has seen some outbreaks of RSV, they are seeing more cases of flus and bronchitis, which have similar symptoms to RSV.

    Burke advised parents not to panic if their child shows symptoms of RSV. If they call their pediatrician, a nurse should be able to determine if the symptoms are from RSV or a common cold virus.

    Symptoms of RSV include an asthma-like difficulty with breathing, difficulty eating or sleeping and unusually serious cold symptoms. Children younger than three-months-old or younger than one year old with a chronic disease, like diabetes or heart disease, are especially susceptible to the virus.

    According to a press release, the body never develops an immunity to RSV and it will manifest itself several times in a person’s lifetime. Because infants’ immune systems are not yet fully developed, they have more difficulty fighting off the virus.

    Bonnie Midget, public relations coordinator for Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake, says there is no known cure for the virus — it must simply run its course. There is, however, an anti-viral medication that is used in severe cases of RSV, she said.

    “It’s hard to predict what this disease will do,” said Midget. “Some people have connected the virus to inversions, but we’re not really sure what it’s caused by.”

    Primary Children’s emergency department saw 3,729 patients in December, a record-breaking high. According to a Primary Children’s Medical Center press release, they admitted 500 children, twice their average for the month.

    Midget said parents of young children should take precautions over the next few months, like keeping the infant away from public places where they could be exposed and washing their hands frequently, especially before handling their child.

    Richelle Anderson, 21, from Sandy, is the mother of a two-month-old baby girl who recently showed symptoms of RSV. Anderson said she got nervous when Mikayla, her baby, started coughing and breathing noisily.

    “I was watching the news and they showed a baby with RSV who was breathing the same way Mikayla was,” she said. When Mikayla started coming on with a fever, Anderson took her down to the hospital. She said the baby’s fever went up 2 degrees in the time it took to get to the hospital from home.

    One of the symptoms of RSV, rapid or difficult breathing, is difficult to determine, said Anderson, because even healthy babies often have irregular breathing patterns.

    “It’s frustrating because the baby can’t tell you how they feel. It’s hard to guess what they need,” Anderson said. She said, however, she would rather be safe than sorry, and contacts her pediatrician regularly when she is concerned with her baby’s health.

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