The RSV virus, next to flu or coronavirus, is on the list of potentially dangerous ones. For infants, the risk of severe infection is serious. It often means hospitalization, oxygen therapy, and then complications. There are antibodies, administered like a vaccine – effective, but not reimbursed. That's why there are calls to change this.
– It literally knocks you off your feet. This is a child who lies all the time, who does not want to eat. He had problems with urinating, he didn't want to drink and he had a very high fever all the time – says Marta Łapkowska, mother of 10-month-old Staś, who contracted the RSV virus.
As many as 22,000 children were in a similar situation in the previous virus season. – They're just suffocating. We have to save these children by putting them on oxygen therapy, on these high-flow oxygen therapies. For some, this is not enough and they end up in intensive care units – informs prof. Jacek Wysocki from the Wielkopolska Pediatric Center in Poznań.
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It happens that the consequences of infection persist for years. – Staś was in the hospital for 10 days. Unfortunately, he was left with asthma after the illness – says Marta Łapkowska.
There are also delays in development, most likely caused by hypoxia. – At the age of three, he didn't talk to his mother, he didn't say onomatopoeic words – says Mrs. Marta.
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Vaccinations come to the rescue, but there is a problem
The RSV virus is four times more infectious and causes up to 16 times more hospitalizations and emergency room visits in infants than the influenza virus. Nearly 100 percent of children will develop infections by the age of two. Of those who are admitted to hospital, as many as 80 percent are previously healthy children, and as many as 27 percent of them will require care in an intensive care unit.
– When RSV infections begin, we have a ward full of children who require oxygen – says Dr. Lidia Stopyra, head of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Pediatrics at the Specialist Hospital. Stefan Żeromski in Krakow. – We really need to protect infants so that they do not get so seriously ill – emphasizes Prof. Jacek Wysocki from the Wielkopolska Pediatric Center in Poznań.
And here medicine has already come to the rescue. – We have a new, single-dose monoclonal antibody that immunizes the infant for the entire infection season – informs Elżbieta Brzozowska, vice-president of the “Koalicja dla Wcześniaka” Foundation.
Antibodies that protect against RSV are administered like a vaccine. The problem is that currently only premature babies and children with serious diseases are eligible for reimbursement, and not for a single-dose medicine, but for one that is administered monthly, even though as many as 94 percent of hospitalized children do not belong to risk groups and were born at term. .
Hence the appeal of scientific societies and parents to the Ministry of Health. – For this preparation to be included in the vaccination calendar – says Prof. Jan Mazela, pediatrician and neonatologist from the Gynecological and Obstetrics Clinical Hospital in Poznań.
Recommendations regarding the protection of all children against the RSV virus have already been issued by many European countries, including Poland. – We are preparing appropriate regulations to make this possible – says Izabela Leszczyna, Minister of Health from the Civic Coalition.
Main photo source: TVN24