Respiratory virus on the rise amongst children across the Mid-South

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Cold, flu, and COVID-19 are not the only illnesses you need to worry about this fall and winter. Doctors across the Mid-South are warning of another virus on the rise.

It’s called a respiratory syncytial virus, better known as RSV. The virus can especially be dangerous in infants and young children.

Officials with Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital say they are seeing more cases and more visits to the emergency room than they typically see this time of year.

FOX13 spoke with a mother who said RSV landed her son in the ICU.

“He spiked a fever. It was 102. Then the next day he started having respiratory symptoms,” Andi Long said. “A little bit of congestion and a cough, and it continued to get worse from there.”

What started out as symptoms of a cold or the flu quickly took a turn for six-month-old Jones.

“Once he started feeling more tired and not himself, he stopped eating, and all of that combined was my sign we needed more help than we were getting at home,” Long said.

Long took him to his pediatrician, who diagnosed the baby with respiratory syncytial virus; or RSV.

Over the next few days, Jones started having trouble breathing. That’s when Long took him to the emergency room at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.

“He spent a few days in the ICU and just now got moved to the floor. They just now turned his oxygen off to see how he does,” Long said.

Dr. Sandy Arnold at Le Bonheur says the hospital is seeing a noticeable increase in RSV cases along with other respiratory illnesses like the flu.

She said doctors are preparing for a potentially unprecedented winter of virus.

“I think what we are seeing is as people are spending more time in crowded places and in school without masks on, the viruses are spreading more easily,” Arnold said.

She said RSV typically starts with cold symptoms and a fever that progressively gets worse. Sometimes it can lead to breathing difficulty.

“Using extra muscles and sucking in the chest, essentially breathing faster than normal is a sign,” she said.

Long hopes baby Jones will be cleared to come home this week. She said it’s important for parents to be aware of the signs.

“I think just be aware of what to look for, when to go to the doctor and then when to go to the ER is important,” she said.

Right now, there is no specific treatment or a vaccine for RSV.

Doctors say the best way to prevent the spread of viruses is to stay home when you’re sick, cough into your arm and keep your hands clean.

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