Rice County Public Health Nursing Service Director Deb Purfeerst and Minnesota Department of Health point person on RSV Karen Martin join us today on AM Minnesota.  The program starts at 9:30 a.m.  Earlier this week we saw from the Associated Press a story talking about the fact that hospitals and clinics across the state have been seeing a spike in the number of Respiratory Sycytial Virus cases, also known as RSV.

RSV surveillance is fairly new in Minnesota according to the State Department of Health website.  So far this year nearly 400 people have been hospitalized with RSV.  The average age of these people is 10 months.  RSV does affect the lungs and respiratory tract in both adults and children.  The most serious cases tend to occur in very young children.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website tells us

  • Almost all children will be infected with RSV by their second birthday.
  • RSV usually causes mild respiratory illness, but it can be serious, especially in infants and older adults.
  • RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children younger than 1 year of age.
  • In the United States, RSV infections generally occur during the fall, winter and spring months.

The CDC website also says there are ways to help prevent the spread of RSV.  We will discuss some of those suggestions.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Information. Graphic from CDC
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Information. Graphic from CDC
loading...

* One of our guests on AM Minnesota had some phone issues, rather than cut that out, we left it in as Gordy's initial questions might be missed and cause confusion.

Part 1

Part 2

More From KQCL Power 96