2010-02-19 10:05:44 - Epidemic Hazard - USA EDIS CODE: EH-20100219-24994-USA
Date & Time: 2010-02-19 10:05:44 [UTC]
Area: USA, State of Arizona, Arizona-wide, !!! ALERT !!! Number of Infected person(s): 1302
Not confirmed information! Description: Arizona's pediatric hospitals are being flooded with small children suffering from a potentially life-threatening respiratory virus. Earlier this week in one 24-hour period, Phoenix Children's Hospital admitted 38 babies and toddlers who have RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, which typically spikes this time of year. Arizona Children's Hospital, which is on the Maricopa Medical Center campus in Phoenix, reported that 60 percent of its pediatric beds are filled with children fighting the disease. It's a similar story at Cardon Children's Medical Center in Mesa, where young RSV patients now occupy 40 to 50 percent of the beds on any given day, hospital officials said. RSV doesn't cause serious problems for older children and adults. Most who catch it think they have a common cold. But, in some infants, it can cause life-threatening respiratory infections. The illness is the most common cause of pneumonia and bronchiolitis, an inflammation of the small airways in the lungs, in U.S. children under 1 year of age. As the annual RSV season approaches its peak in Arizona, doctors say, it appears that more babies are being infected and that the illness is more severe this year. A total of 1,302 cases have been reported so far this year; 64 percent of them have come in the past three weeks. "We are seeing tons of RSV," said Dr. Heidi Dalton, chief of critical-care medicine at Phoenix Children's. State data show that there are typically 1,900 to 2,900 laboratory-confirmed cases of RSV each year. Arizona is on track to exceed the most recent four-year average, which the state uses to compare the severity of annual RSV outbreaks. About a week ago, Phoenix mom Yesenia Barraza noticed that her 6-month-old daughter, Martha Sicairos, was coughing a lot. At first, she thought it was a bad cold. But then, Martha started having trouble breathing.
Barraza took her baby to the pediatrician, who immediately dispatched them via ambulance to Phoenix Children's Hospital, where the child was diagnosed with RSV. "I don't even know how she got it," Barraza said. "I don't ever take her out really, and everyone at home is healthy." RSV is spread by direct contact with an infected person or when droplets containing the virus are sneezed or coughed into the air. Germs from the virus can live for several hours, making RSV easily transmissible via doorknobs, staircase railings and other commonly-touched surfaces. RSV doesn't respond to antibiotics, so medical treatment generally includes what's called "supportive care." Physicians and hospitals will try to ease a child's breathing by suctioning mucus from the infant's nose or providing oxygen. If a baby isn't eating, feeding tubes or IV fluids can be administered. The virus never gets as much attention as influenza, but it circulates every year and just as rapidly as the flu. Physicians say this season's strain seems to be causing much more severe illness than usual. "We have a lot of patients who are requiring ICU (intensive-care unit) care," Dalton said. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 75,000 to 125,000 children are hospitalized with severe RSV infections every year. Fatalities are rare but not unheard of. In Arizona, RSV season begins in December or January and peaks by late March. Those suffering from the most severe cases are likely to be infants younger than 1, those with congenital heart or lung disease, or babies who were born prematurely.
Dr. David Rosenberg, a pediatrician at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix, calls RSV "underappreciated and underestimated" as a public-health threat. "It leads to just as many, if not more, hospitalizations and doctors visits than regular influenza," he said. Barraza, whose child has been at Phoenix Children's for three days, isn't sure when Martha will be able to go home, but the baby appears to be recovering. "She's doing better," Barraza said Thursday. "She plays and smiles. She wasn't doing that at all before." A couple of miles away, 16-month-old Faith Morris is fighting, too. Faith was first diagnosed with RSV in mid-January and has been hospitalized three times since. She currently is sedated and on a ventilator at Arizona Children's Hospital. Faith was born prematurely at just 23 weeks, said her mother, Brittany. Doctors think that may be one of the reasons she has had such a hard time fighting off the virus. "She just stopped breathing," Brittany said. "She really gave us a scare yesterday. But she seems to be doing better today." Medical experts say parents can minimize a child's risk of contracting RSV through preventive measures, including hand-washing and thorough disinfecting and cleaning of cribs, toys and other objects that the child touches. Any family member with a cold or suspected RSV illness should avoid or minimize contact with an infant. "There's really no magic bullet for this disease," said Marti Reich, infection-prevention nurse at Cardon Children's. "But people need to be careful. It looks like just a cold for us . . . and then, we end up sharing it with the little ones, not realizing we are putting them at risk."
The name of Hazard: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
Species: Human
Status: Suspected
|
