Researchers at B-C Children’s Hospital warn that infants and children could suffer more respiratory infections this summer as pandemic restrictions ease — and they say doctors should watch for an illness that usually only surfaces over the winter.
A letter co-authored by Dr. Pascal Lavoie at the B-C Children’s Hospital Research Institute and published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal says youngsters in Australia and the U-S have already had more cases of the R-S-V virus.
The illness is one of the most common cold viruses and it circulates widely — but just 239 positive tests were found in Canada last year when pandemic isolation was at its peak — compared with nearly 19-thousand cases in the previous season.
The virus is rarely severe — except in premature or immune-compromised infants — but there’s concern babies born during the pandemic may not have developed immunity to it — and the letter warns doctors to be vigilant.
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