Introduction to RSV
The season of respiratory viruses started early in children this year and flooded children’s hospitals in many parts of the country, especially with the respiratory syncytial virus known as RSV. But adults can also get RSV. Although RSV usually doesn’t send as many adults to the hospital, it can be a serious and even fatal illness for seniors and people with underlying health conditions.
How RSV Affects Adults
And since more children receive RSV, the chances that adults will be exposed increase. Some doctors say they are starting to see an increase in adult patients. This season, around 6 out of 100,000 seniors were hospitalized with RSV, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is significantly lower than the rate for children but still unusually high. In the years before the Covid-19 pandemic, hospital stays for seniors were about ten times lower during the season.
RSV Infection Rates and Deaths
Based on the best estimates, there are between 10,000 and 15,000 deaths for adults every year in the United States and around 150,000 hospital stays for RSV. A study from 2015 found that the disease burden of RSV in older adults in industrialized countries is "significant" and estimated that around 14.5% of the 1.5 million adults who caught RSV were admitted to hospitals. People aged 65 and older were hospitalized more often than those aged 50 to 64.
Symptoms of RSV in Adults
RSV shows in adults, just like it does in children, with symptoms such as a cold, runny nose, reduced appetite, cough, sneezing, fever, and wheezing. The symptoms usually last a week or two and clear up with rest and liquids. However, in some adults, RSV can be dangerous because it can lead to dehydration, breathing difficulties, and more serious diseases such as pneumonia and bronchiolitis, inflammation of the tiny respiratory tract in the lungs.
High-Risk Groups
The adults who are most at risk for severe outcomes with RSV are those 65 and older. The virus can spread quickly in a nursing home or long-term care facility, just like Covid-19 and flu. Adults with weakened immune systems must be careful during the RSV season. This can include people who are taking care of cancer, transplant patients, people with HIV, and people who are taking certain medications that suppress the immune system for diseases such as Crohn’s, lupus, or rheumatoid arthritis.
Transmission of RSV
An infected person can pass on RSV by coughing or sneezing. When the droplets of breath land on a surface and someone else touches it and then touches their face, they can get sick. It also spreads because healthy adults often don’t know that they have it. It usually doesn’t cause fatigue like flu or Covid, so many adults go to work or jump into an airplane or a bus and give up their symptoms to allergies. As they interact with others, it spreads further.
Protective Measures
Protective measures for this busy RSV season sound familiar: wash your hands frequently, disinfect surfaces, and wear a mask in crowded rooms. Maybe you would like to postpone that visit to see your grandchildren for a week, or you might want to wear a mask if you go to a crowded place. Masks and hand washing work. If you are a frail person or you know that you have underlying diseases, if we know that RSV is increasing, you should do these things and be careful around children who are actively sick.
Treatment and Vaccination
There are specific antivirals for flu and Covid-19, but not for RSV. The trick is to get tested early to even exclude RSV. If you start immediately with Covid or flu, you can shorten the time you are sick, shorten, and prevent the virus from becoming more serious. At RSV, treatment is mentioned as supportive care: drink many liquids, make a real calm, stay at home so that you can’t spread it, and wear a mask around others in your house. There is no protective vaccine for RSV, but that could change in the next season. In the United States, there are four RSV vaccines that the FDA may approach, and more than a dozen are in trials. Some are said to protect infants, and some are being tested in older adults.
