Cameron County hospitals seeing spike in RSV infections among children
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The health care system is being overwhelmed in Cameron County as doctors work to find the best type of care for patients with the Respiratory Syncytial Virus, or RSV.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, RSV causes cold-like symptoms, but children and older adults can develop severe complications from it.
A Brownsville pediatrician says he's had to hospitalize patients ranging from newborns to two years old in the last two weeks
Dr. Asim Zamir, chief of pediatrics at Valley Baptist Medical Center, says he's seen up to 30 kids a day suffering from RSV in his clinic. On average, two of those children need to be hospitalized.
“Because numbers are tremendous, and bed space is limited, some weeks are going that we don't have any beds in the pediatric ICU around the state,” Zamir said.
Babies are hospitalized for up to three days on average, but complicated cases can stay as long as three weeks.
Zamir said Valley Baptist in Brownsville is at full capacity.
“And it goes in waves,” Zamir said. “We discharge five, six more comes in. We discharge eight, 10 come in, and that has been the case for the past two weeks."
Zamir said there may soon be a shortage in RSV vaccines, and clinics are administering monoclonal antibodies to patients to help them fight the infection.
“Our goal is to immunize as much as possible, and we're getting a good response from the parents,” Zamir said.
RSV season runs until April 2024. Zamir said he expects another peak in infections after January
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