“At the moment, we’re seeing lots of people worried and I even had one mother this morning saying that her child has had a cough for weeks and the creche won’t let the child in because it could be Strep A. While Dr Duffy said she understands the concerns of parents when it comes to Strep A because “they’re being told to worry about it, she added that “we have to use common sense”. While there are surges in RSV cases over the winter months, this is because people spend more time indoors and in closer proximity to each other, rather than being the result of cold weather or being chilled. ![]() ![]() Meanwhile, Met Éireann has advised that the current cold snap could extend into next week. “I don’t think it’s massively higher than previous years, although the hospitals are seeing more admissions and are seeing younger kids who are sicker with it.” So that’s why perhaps it all seems a bit newer. ![]() “We have surges of it every winter and it’s just that this is the first winter we’ve seen it in three years. However, Dr Duffy said RSV levels “are probably back at pre-pandemic levels”. She added that “really young kids, under six months, and kids with underlying health conditions are the group that are most likely to end up being admitted with RSV”. Pre-pandemic, however, a total of 136 cases were recorded in 2018 and 108 cases were recorded in 2019.ĭr Duffy said this correlates to what she is experiencing in her own practice: “We’re not seeing a massive rise in Strep A presentations, we’re seeing what we’d normally see, but we are seeing huge rise in RSV.” Latest figures from the HPSC reveal there have been 55 confirmed cases of Strep A so far this year. There were two paediatric deaths attributed to the infection in both 20. The HSE has confirmed that a four-year-old died from a Strep A infection. Professor Smyth added: “As we know, there are a lot of bugs circulating at the moment because we had a reduced social mixing, particularly in children.” But we are keeping a very close eye on it.” Speaking to Morning Ireland yesterday, CMO Professor Breda Smyth said: “The number of cases (of Strep A) we’ve had this year is actually much lower than pre-pandemic times. “The Chief Medical Officer has actually said that we’re not seeing a massive rise in Strep A infections, that it matches pre-Covid levels.” ![]() “RSV is the big thing and listening to the paediatricians in the hospital, they’re saying RSV is the main reason for admissions to hospital at the moment and that it’s not so much Strep A,” said Dr Duffy. On Wednesday, children’s hospitals across Dublin announced they were under extreme pressure due to the high number of sick children presenting in emergency departments, and the number of very sick children already receiving care. “That made it easier to contain the spread of infection, whereas now we’re back to mixing and mingling and also children who haven’t met these viruses because of the lockdown, many of them never met the normal virus that they would meet at this time of the year and didn’t meet them in the last two winters.”ĭr Duffy warns that this has weakened some children’s immunity and has affected their ability to combat the virus. “We’re definitely seeing a rise in RSV,” said Dr Duffy, “probably because in the last couple of years we haven’t seen much of anything because of Covid and the restrictions. It is highly contagious and this year’s winter spike is likely the result of a reduced immune response in children after limited contact with one another last year. RSV usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms but can be serious, especially for infants and older adults. While Dr Illona Duffy says it is understandable that parents are concerned about Strep A, she added that RSV is the “big reason for admissions to hospital” at the moment. A LEADING GP says parents ought to be more concerned about RSV than Strep A.
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