Initially, David and Natalie Robertson were told that their 10-week-old twins had a mild infection.
Key points:
- After a COVID-induced calm, respiratory infections increase again
- RSV infections have skyrocketed, as have cases of various types of flu
- Young children are especially at risk, with thousands hospitalized in recent weeks
Her three-year-old son, Leon, had caught a common virus known as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in daycare three weeks ago and shared the disease with babies Hugo and Margot.
Last year, her two-year-old daughter, Olive, had the potentially harmful virus, so they knew how to keep a close eye on newborns.
When Margot’s blood oxygen reading became worrisome, they took the couple to an emergency.
“From previous years we knew it was pretty serious,” Robertson said.
The twins of David and Natalie Robertson were hospitalized after contracting RSV. (ABC News: Mary Lloyd)
Shortly after arriving at the hospital, it became clear that Hugo’s condition was worse than his sister’s.
His quick breathing showed he was struggling to get air.
He needed to be seen by specialists at Westmead Children’s Hospital.
So for three days, the twins and their parents split between two hospitals.
The Robertsons said the two pediatric wards were full of children with RSV.
Margot Robertson spent three days in the hospital with RSV. (Supplied)
Increase in hospital admissions for children
According to the NSW Respiratory Surveillance Report, the week the twins were in hospital, 721 children between the ages of 0 and 4 were taken to a bronchiolitis emergency department, which in babies is usually associated with with the VRS.
Of these, 42% were admitted to hospital.
Dr Philip Britton, an infectious disease pediatrician at the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, said he expects it to be a long and difficult winter.
Not only have VRS infections been triggered, but also cases of various types of flu.
Philip Britton says RSV and flu infections can be very serious for young children. (ABC News: Mary Lloyd)
Dr. Britton said RSV mainly affects children under one year of age and that the flu mainly affects those between one and five years of age.
But he said this year they were seeing more school-age children with the flu than usual.
“These two diseases can cause children to not only go to the hospital, but have to go to intensive care,” he said.
Respiratory infections return
RSV and other respiratory viruses are also surprising in other states.
Western Australia reported 1,024 cases of RSV in people of all ages during the first half of 2022, while Queensland reported more than 300.
Tasmanian authorities did not have specific data on RSV, but said the state was seeing an increase in flu-like illness this winter.
“We expect to see a continued increase in respiratory viruses, including COVID-19, influenza, RSV and others, in the coming weeks,” a spokesman for the Tasmanian Health Department said.
Thousands of young children have been admitted to hospital in recent weeks due to a respiratory illness. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)
According to Dr Michael Bonning, President of the Australian Medical Association of New South Wales, the pandemic is to blame for our vulnerability.
In 2020 and 2021, influenza cases decreased significantly, as measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 also disrupted the transmission of the influenza virus.
Dr. Bonning said this meant people had not accumulated immunity through exposure.
“We really rely on people’s immunity from vaccination more than anything else because they haven’t had exposure in the last two years,” he said.
He said many people had not kept their vaccines up to date, which made the population ripe for a flu outbreak.
“There are many, many naive immune people to whom it can be extended,” he said.
Influenza infections usually increase and then go away, but Dr. Bonning said he hoped this flu season would continue for several months.
That would mean many more people, including young children, would be hospitalized, he said.
Healthcare has been pushed to the limit
Dr. Britton said people accepted respiratory diseases in winter as normal, but they should do everything possible to stop the spread of these diseases.
This includes not ignoring mild symptoms in adults.
“A mild cold for you can be pneumonia for someone else, it can be intensive care management for a small child,” he said.
Hugo Robertson was taken to Westmead Children’s Hospital after contracting RSV. (ABC News: Mary Lloyd)
The increased need for care comes at a time when Australia’s hospital system is already stretched due to high levels of influenza and COVID19 in the community and healthcare staff.
Robertson said Mount Druitt Hospital in west Sydney, where he and his wife first took the twins, was on the verge.
“His emergency service was full, the rooms on the ground floor were full,” he said.
He noticed the same thing at Westmead Children’s Hospital.
“When I went into the emergency room, it was midnight on Saturday, it was full,” he said.
“There were so many kids, sitting in front while coughing.”
Doctors are asking for help so that more children like Margot and Hugo Robertson do not contract respiratory diseases. (ABC News: Mary Lloyd)
Dr. Bonning said he was concerned about the health system’s ability to cope.
“Our hospital system is already dealing with record levels of demand,” he said.
He said anything the public could do to limit the spread of the disease would reduce pressure on the healthcare system.
Dr. Britton agreed.
“Any help we can get from the community in terms of reducing the amount of infection, reducing the severity of the infection is crucial,” he said.
“We ask you now to help us, especially over the next three or four months.”
Return to basic public health measures
The help they are asking for is nothing new: it is all that Australians have been doing to stop the spread of COVID-19 in recent years: hand hygiene, cough and sneeze etiquette, masking, staying at home if you are not feeling well and get vaccinated.
Professor Kristine Macartney, director of the National Center for Immunization Research and Surveillance and a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases, said vaccine coverage in Australia this year was not good enough.
He said previously almost 50% of Australian children were vaccinated against the flu, but this year the rate was just over 20%.
Respiratory Disease Protection Tips:
- Maintain good hand hygiene
- Cover your mouth and nose when you cough
- Stay home when you’re not well
- Wear a mask in high-density environments such as malls
- Getting vaccinated
Currently, most states offer free flu shots to all residents.
“It’s not too late for your child to get vaccinated against the flu. We still have many winter months to go,” Professor Macartney said.
He said staying home when you are sick or keeping sick children at home was especially important to limit the spread of RSV, because there is still no vaccine against this virus.
Mr. Robertson would also like more precautions to keep the RSV out of daycare.
He said parents should test children for COVID-19 and were notified if the virus was detected, but for young children, RSV was also a major risk.
“I think they have to do RSV tests and the numbers have to be reported in the same way that COVID did,” he said.
Posted 58 minutes ago 58 minutes ago, Monday, July 11, 2022 at 7:10 PM, updated 55 minutes ago, 55 minutes ago, Monday, July 11, 2022 at 7:13 PM