CDC issues health recommendations that RS virus is increasing throughout the southern United States

Washington — The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory on Thursday informing clinicians and caregivers of increased seasonal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity in parts of the southern United States.

According to the CDC, RSV is an RNA virus that spreads primarily through respiratory droplets when a person coughs or sneezes, and through direct contact with contaminated surfaces. RSV can be associated with severe illness in infants and the elderly.

Although RSV infections occur primarily during the cold and flu seasons in the fall and winter, the CDC has confirmed an increase in reported RSV detections since March. National Respiratory and Intestinal Virus Surveillance System, A nationwide laboratory-based surveillance network.

Scanning electron micrographs labeled with human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) virion (blue) and anti-RSV F protein / gold antibody (yellow) released from the surface of human lung epithelial A549 cells. Credit: NIAID. (Four

“With this increase in activity, the CDC encourages a wide range of tests for RSV in patients with acute respiratory illness who test negative for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.” Written in the advisory“This health recommendation should not report work for acute illness to medical personnel, childcare providers, or long-term care facility staff, even if the SARS-CoV-2 test is negative. It also calls attention. “

CDCs are detected in laboratories in southern regions, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and New Mexico. He pointed out that the rate of positive detection was increasing in both antigen and PCR tests. , Oklahoma, Texas.

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In April 2020, researchers noticed a decrease in RSV activity. This is probably due to the adoption of public health measures to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

“At this time, it is not possible to reliably predict the extent, peak, or duration of activity, as the increase in activity during this season is a deviation from the typical circulating pattern of the RS virus,” the CDC wrote. I have.

The CDC states that RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children under 1 year of age in the United States.

Since the decline in RSV levels in 2020, authorities say infants and toddlers may be at increased risk of serious viral illness because they have not been exposed to levels typical of RSV in the last 15 months. It states that there is.

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Symptoms of infants include hypersensitivity, malnutrition, lethargy, and apnea. Older babies may have symptoms such as loss of appetite, coughing, sneezing, fever, and sometimes wheezing.

According to the CDC, adult symptoms are usually consistent with upper respiratory tract infections such as rhinorrhea, sore throat, cough, headache, fatigue, and fever.

In the United States, RSV causes an average of approximately 58,000 hospitalizations each year, with 100-500 deaths for children under the age of 5 and 177,000 hospitalizations and 14,000 deaths for adults 65 and older.

Currently, there is no specific cure for RSV infection. Symptomatology management..

The news is due to the continued detection of variants of the new coronavirus infection of concern in the United States and around the world, with new and perhaps more contagious strains emerging in the country recently. There is growing concern that it may impede the decline in cases.

In April, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel saw many coronavirus variants worldwide in the coming months as the world vaccinated against COVID-19 and competed to stop the pandemic. He said he expected to be.

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“We expect to see many variants next year or so,” Bansel said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday. “Squawk Box”. “But as more people are vaccinated or naturally infected, the pace of varieties will slow down and the virus will stabilize, as seen in influenza.”