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Emergency rooms across Australia have been overrun with children struggling to breathe and it’s not because of Covid.
Respiratory viruses, including respiratory syncytial virus and influenza, affect children more frequently and in patterns not seen before.
According to pediatrician Asha Bowen in Perth, Western Australia and the Northern Territory are experiencing a spike in RSV cases – something that would normally happen in June.
Emergency rooms across Australia have been overrun with children struggling to breathe – and it’s not because of COVID-19
Respiratory viruses, including respiratory syncytial virus and influenza, affect children more frequently and in patterns not seen before
But during the pandemic, RSV surprisingly peaked nationwide in January and February.
For RSV to climax in September and October, it gives hope that things will return to normal and move towards the depths of winter — but it’s anyone’s guess whether that’s actually going to happen, said Dr. bowen.
Gone are the days of regular peaks and troughs, with practitioners noticing numerous changes in the way viruses present themselves.
Combine that with limited immunity, thanks to spending months indoors during the pandemic, and kids seem to get more of the viruses out there.
“Normally we see RSV and then flu and then the other spring viruses like rhinovirus, metapneumovirus and others,” said Dr Bowen.
“But there hasn’t been a normal pattern this year…they’re always popping up now and maybe it’s because Covid has left them space.
“We found that COVID peaked nationwide in January and February and then the other viruses came.”
She said the increased number of respiratory illnesses in children meant an increase in hospital presentations and additional strain on the system.
The increased number of respiratory diseases in children has led to an increase in hospital presentations and increased pressure on the system
Jacqueline Small, president of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and pediatrician, said it had been a rough winter for all children, but especially children.
“Now that we have entered the spring, we hope to see a delay in the amount of viruses circulating in the community,” she said.
“We must remain vigilant and remember that we can always do more to protect ourselves and our children, such as maintaining good hygiene and staying home when you are sick.”
Victoria’s deputy chief health officer, associate professor Deborah Friedman, said high vaccination rates have helped reduce flu infections by 2022.
She said flu season has been early, short and sharp in Victoria, but more cases could crop up later this year when holidaymakers return from abroad.
The flu peaked in Victoria with about 18,000 cases in May and fell to 350 in August.
It was overtaken in mid-June by the number of reported cases of RSV.
RSV mainly affects younger children, with 42 percent of reported cases under the age of three in 2022.
Victoria’s deputy chief health officer, associate professor Deborah Friedman, said high vaccination rates have helped reduce flu infections by 2022. She said the flu season was early, short and sharp in Victoria, but more cases could crop up later this year when holidaymakers returning from abroad
The number of people presenting to the emergency department with respiratory illnesses other than Covid-19 and asthma has increased in the winter months, with children under the age of five making up a higher proportion.
Medical director of infection prevention and epidemiology at Monash Health, Professor Rhonda Stuart, said everyone was catching up on viruses they didn’t get during the pandemic.
In 2020 and 2021 there was hardly any flu and very few other respiratory viruses.
“It’s not necessarily immunity,” she said.
“These viruses often like to transmit in the winter because we’re all indoors and we don’t physically segregate that much, and it’s much easier to transmit during the winter months.”
“But when spring comes and the doors open and we have good ventilation and people are outside, respiratory viruses and COVID will not be transmitted as easily.”
The Department of Health and Aged Care said COVID-19 testing likely had an effect on identifying the number of people with respiratory viruses, but it was unable to quantify those statistics because the data had been anonymized.