There are unusually many young children who are diagnosed with the respiratory infection RS virus at the moment.
Last week alone, 510 cases were detected, writes the Statens Serum Institut (SSI) on its website.
This is unusual because RS viruses are usually abundant in winter.
– It shows two things: Firstly, that the infection right now can be significantly more widespread than during the normal season in winter.
– Partly that doctors must pay special attention to RS virus and ensure that patients are tested if they have symptoms of the virus, says ward doctor Lasse Skafte Vestergaard, SSI.
Since mid-May, 1734 cases of RS virus have been detected in Denmark.
Most in children between one and three years.
It is not known for sure why there are unusually many cases of RS virus in Denmark right now. But the same picture is seen in several other countries.
According to SSI, this may be due to the fact that society has now reopened.
Thus, RS virus also has better chances of spreading.
– A possible explanation may be that it is an effect of the recent reopening of the country following the closure and restrictions during the covid-19 epidemic.
– And that there are therefore more who travel, says Lasse Skafte Vestergaard.
In the pediatric ward at Aarhus University Hospital, you can feel the increase in RS cases among children.
– We are about as busy now as in the busiest winter months, says chief physician Klaus Birkelund Johansen.
The very least children who are affected by the RS virus are at particular risk of having a serious course. And some of them are admitted to the pediatric wards.
– We see a number of inpatients of the very young children between zero and six months. And some of them end up in need of airway support. So it is a serious condition in the very young, says the chief doctor.
He shares the serum institute’s assessment that it is probably the reopening of society that has led to a resurgence of the infection.
– We have lived separately due to the coronary restrictions, and thus children have not been exposed to the RS virus, as they normally would have been.
– Now that society has reopened and we have more contact with each other, there is also a greater possibility of infection, he says.
According to the chief physician, there is good reason to take special precautions if you are the parent of very young children.
– The good advice, especially when it comes to children between zero and three months, is to avoid contact with others with symptoms. Do not take the child to family parties or down to big sister’s kindergarten to show it off, he says.
Source: The Nordic Page