ATLANTA — As the seasons change, more people are getting sick — especially with rhinovirus and RSV.
"We've been having a very busy respiratory viral season," said Dr. Andi Shane, who serves as the medical director of hospital epidemiology at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Emory University. "RSV has been the most predominant virus that we've been seeing, but we've also been seeing quite a bit of rhinovirus."
About a third of children they detect have an RSV virus, Shane said. It's been that way for roughly three or four weeks.
"We did start a little bit early this year, pretty much after back to school in August," she said.
"That's a little bit atypical. Usually, our respiratory viral season for RSV starts in October."
She said she hopes they're seeing the worst of RSV right now. Flu cases are slowly starting to increase, too.
"Oftentimes, our most prominent flu seasons start late December or early January," Shane said. "We are starting to see an increase in the number of children who have flu, and so that's something that we really need to be aware of."
The best ways to prevent the spread of illness include washing your hands, staying home when you're sick and getting vaccinated.
"Obviously, we don't want to see any viruses if we can particularly help that," she said. "Parents know their children the best, and if their children are not drinking, if they're not behaving normally if they're not interacting, those are really key indications to seek medical care."
Where to seek medical care depends on the severity of your symptoms. The emergency department is best for more severe symptoms, like difficulty breathing, whereas your child's pediatrician can treat more mild illnesses.
"What we're hoping is that RSV declines and flu doesn't go up too much, but it is very possible," Shane said. "Last year, we had what everybody termed the tripledemic with RSV, flu and COVID at the same time. I'm hoping that we don't see that again."
