This respiratory virus is surging in Fresno, doctors warn. Here’s what to know about RSV

Like many hospital across the country at this moment, Valley Children’s Hospital is being hit with a surge of cases of the seasonal virus, RSV.

“We are getting inundated with patients coming in for symptoms ranging from mild to serious,” said a Zara Arboleda, spokeswoman for Valley Children’s. “The mild ones are the ones we’re trying to keep home, or with their primary care physicians.”

While the positivity rate of COVID-19 is low and holding steady, the number of patients testing positive for RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, has jumped recently — from 10% to 19% last week, Arboleda said.

“And it’s rising.”

RSV is one of several seasonal viruses that affect children.

Parents likely know it by name because it gets talked about by pediatricians as one of main drivers of bronchiolitis, which can severely affect children and lead to hospitalizations, especially those younger than six months, those born prematurely or with heart or lung conditions.

It’s also a virus that doctors can test for, said Nicole Webb, a doctor and pediatric hospitalist at Valley Children’s.

But RSV isn’t anything new.

It’s the timing of this year’s cases that is the outlier, Webb said

“We weren’t expecting it to come this early.”

Prior to the pandemic, Valley Children’s could fairly predict when they would see cases come into the hospital by following what was happening in the Southern Hemisphere, Webb said. Usually, that meant an uptick in winter months, with the bulk of cases in November and December.

Typically, there were few cases after March.

That changed during the pandemic, when schools were closed and children were isolated.

Doctors had actually expected to get an early surge last year, as students started fully returning to school and mingling with other children, Webb said.

“We expected last winter to look like this winter.”

The hospital did see some cases of RSV last winter, but after a month of two, the virus almost disappeared. Then, a small number of cases popped up around May.

Testing and treating RSV

Unless some of other seasonal viruses, RSV is detectable via testing, and doctors are often now including it in panels when testing for COVID-19 or the flu, which may be why it may appear to be showing up more. At that, there is no treatment specific to the virus, Webb said, so there’s no need to rush out and get your child tested just because a child has symptoms.

Many children, especially older children, will come into contract RSV and not experience anything close to needing hospitalization.

Think: runny nose, cough, fever or sore throat and low-grade fever.

It may not be necessary for parents to take their children to the hospital, Webb said, and if you think it can wait a few hours Webb suggests trying to see a primary care doctor instead, as to not overwhelm the hospital services.

Be attentive if children do start to get cold-like symptoms and watch that they aren’t progressing. Pay attention to what Webb calls “below the neck” symptoms, like breathing difficulties that aren’t congestion.

If a child has a persistent high-grade fever or “looks like the act of breathing is fatiguing them,” Webb said, that’s a sign to seek medical attention.

Transmission and prevention

RSV is transmitted through secretions, Webb said. But that doesn’t have to be anything as obvious as coughing or sneezing. The virus can be transmitted from hands (like when wiping noses) to surfaces. Parents may want to limit the sharing of cups, toys or pencils, but also preach and practice good hand hygiene. The CDC website has a nice step-by-step reminder.

Limiting exposure to people who might be ill is also important, especially for newborns and infants, Webb said.

Webb would remind people that pediatric doctors have been seeing RSV (and other seasonal viruses) all of their careers.

“It is not anything that we at Valley Children’s doesn’t know how to manage.”

Dan Lynch, Fresno County’s director of emergency medical services, said on Friday that other local hospitals are preparing in case Valley Children’s fills up, “and hospitals have to hold on to pediatric patients.”

They can do this because, generally, COVID numbers are down.

“Which is good,” Lynch said, “because it allows the hospitals to prepare for the next war.”

This story was originally published October 28, 2022 at 11:01 AM.