As RSV spreads to children on the South Island, toddlers suffer from long-term seizures. 1 news

By Rachel Graham rnz.co.nz

RSV, a highly contagious respiratory disease, is causing havoc up and down the country in wards and day care centers.

Hospitals on the South Island are also affected as RSV and other winter illnesses put pressure on services.

When Christchurch’s Brittnay Beddoes took her one-year-old daughter Meah to a doctor on Monday, he told her it was a textbook RSV.

By Tuesday, Mia was downhill further.

“She had a 27-minute febrile seizure that couldn’t be stopped with seizure medication,” Beddoes said.

“She was discharged from Christchurch Hospital that night because she needed a bed. Last night she was taken back by ambulance because her temperature was 41.7 degrees and oxygen was above 70. So she was oxygenated all night. I was ingesting. “

Today, Meah is starting to get well, and Beddoes wants them to go home tonight.

She also has a newborn baby and is worried that her baby may be ill.

Beddoes said from stories he heard from other parents that the entire children’s ward was coughing and full of babies crying with RSV.

At the New Beginnings Preschool in Lynnwood, Christchurch, only four of the 36 children who normally attend are there today.

Stef Knight, chief teacher of the center’s curriculum, said he had never seen so many illnesses in his decade of education.

“There is no one in the room under the age of two. Many parents bring a child with a really nasty cough, a very high fever. Really runny nose, runny nose, green, you know, those I have a lot of cold and flu symptoms. “

Knight said he wasn’t sure if it was RSV that caused the widespread illness, but some parents had doctors confirm that their children had RSV.

She wants to provide information about what the DHB should do next.

“If this RSV is well established, we need to have a specific standdown period for the family … I’m really happy if the fever has subsided but the child is still coughing. Are they still? Infectious? The best way to inform parents that we really have all these things we don’t know the best way to deal with it.

“How can I keep myself safe? And obviously I don’t want to keep watching the day when I have 4 kids instead of 36 kids.”

RSV is a seasonal virus that circulates frequently in the community during the winter months. RSV is mild for people who have been infected before, but can be very severe for infants, the elderly, and people with weak immunity.

DHB problems require “extreme care”

In a statement released tonight, the Southern District Health Commission called on the general public to exercise “extreme care” when visiting their child wards, neonatal and neonatal intensive care units, and critical care units. I am.

DHB wanted to do everything it could to reduce infections to vulnerable patients with RSV and other respiratory illnesses.

Pediatrics Professor Barry Taylor and Dr. Ian Shaw, Dannyden Hospital and Southland Hospital, Wanau with symptoms (nasal discharge and cough) visit children in the pediatric ward and patients in the intensive care unit and critical care unit He said he emphasized that it should not be done.

A clinical director of the Southern DHB Emergency Department said there was a significant surge in patients of all ages, especially from children, compared to this time last year, with the potential for viral respiratory infections. I did.

They said the children’s ward at Southland Hospital was full this week as the waves of respiratory illness in North Island began to move southward. The Dunedin Children’s Ward currently has free space, but many children are actively supported by the community.

At Dunedin Hospital, the Children’s Unit has seen an increase in children with dyspnea, but is still within capacity. In Southland, 9/10 patients isolated in Children’s Ward have respiratory illness.

“The increase in the number of children with respiratory infections is usually seen every winter, but this year it is even higher as few children were exposed to the respiratory virus during the Covid-19 blockade last winter. “,” Said Professor Taylor.

“This is very effective in stopping the spread of these viruses during the blockade, and if the members of Farnau are symptomatic, they will stop the spread of the virus to other people. It shows that similar measures can be taken to do so. “

Medical officer Dr. Susan Jack urged children with colds and coughs to stay warm at home tonight and see a doctor if they get worse.

The situation can get worse

The Canterbury District Health Commission has had 41 confirmed cases of RSV since last Thursday, and this year more than 100 children have been taken to the emergency department for respiratory infections than in 2019. For that.

Due to an increase in pediatric patients, four surgeries scheduled for Tuesday were postponed, but the board said it was postponed but was able to meet demand.

Virologist Dr. Sue Huang said the next few weeks would be important to know how much the effects of RSV had, and it is unlikely that the country saw the worst effects of RSV.

“Next month is important, and in July, RSV usually peaks late in practice. Often, influenza first occurs, then RSV. This year, influenza occurs. However, RSV usually occurs around August or September, “Dr. Huang said.

According to Huang, early symptoms are like a cold or flu with fever and cough, and people who have previously encountered RSV can have very mild symptoms.

Beddoes advises other parents to see a doctor as soon as their child shows signs of difficulty breathing.