Children’s hospitals have been sounding the alarm for several weeks: the wards are full, the RS virus ensures that the beds in the children’s wards are filling up. But corona and flu are also viruses that continue to spread and burden patients. In Vienna, a toddler in hospital is currently battling five viruses at once – including RSV and Corona.
The virologist Judith Aberle tweeted: “First seen today the finding of a toddler with a PCR-confirmed ‘quintuple’ infection.” The child struggles with SARS-CoV-2, influenza A, RSV, enteroviruses and adenoviruses. Enteroviruses are more common in children and cause a runny nose, cough, malaise and fever. Adenoviruses attack the respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract or conjunctiva.
Fighting all these viruses at once is a challenge for small children, writes the Austrian newspaper “Heute”. Even though vaccinations against corona and flu protect against serious cures, there is still no vaccine for RSV. The Pharmazeutische Zeitung writes that one can currently only passively immunize oneself against RS viruses.
Co-circulation of the viruses puts pressure on patients
A co-circulation of several viruses is a danger to the body. The virologist Aberle warned in the past that the combination of corona and flu could put a heavy burden on the health system. And she said: RSV will fill even more beds in the wards in the future. Exactly this scenario has now occurred.
It is not uncommon for RSV viruses to spread at this time of year. However, the measures against the corona virus since 2020 have led to fewer children with RSV. As a result, many children were unable to build up immunity and are now particularly vulnerable.
In Switzerland, too, the stations are at their limits: in November, patients had to be flown from Zurich to Chur because there were no more beds. (jwg)