Dr Bloomfield says the illness, which is “very debilitating” for young babies, can make children quite sick.
“[I’m] certainly concerned about the sharp surge in RSV cases. This is a nasty illness.
“Babies and children suffer from a whole range of illnesses and often there’s no discussion about a particular virus, but certainly RSV is one that’s common. It’s more common that Mori and Pasifika children get sick with RSV during the winter.”
RSV is a virus that surges in winter, similarly to the flu, Dr Bloomfield says. There was little RSV around last year since closed borders and lockdowns helped stop it from spreading, meaning more children could be getting infected since their immune systems aren’t used to it.
“There’s been some speculation that there may be a bigger pool of susceptible children because last year, the group of children generally under three years of age who get sick with RSV… that group was spared it because of the lockdowns,” Dr Bloomfield says.
“This year we have got that winter peak and there is some speculation that because there’s a bigger pool of children that there might be higher rates of it this year, but the size of the surge and peak in our hospitals is about what we see each year.”
Several hospitals have limited visitors to help stop RSV’s spread.
