Identify RSV infections in children and infants quickly: Have blue lips checked by a doctor immediately
Created: 12/13/2022, 2:00 p.m
By: Juliane Gutmann
The RS virus is rampant.
In most cases, the infection is mild, but severe courses are also possible.
Some symptoms should lead you to the doctor.
Reports about full children's practices and children's wards have been filling newspaper columns and news apps for several weeks.
The cause is the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which can result in severe respiratory disease.
Babies, children and adults can get sick.
Infection is usually harmless, but severe courses are also possible.
This is currently being shown in a tragic way: the current wave of infections is causing the children's clinics, which are understaffed due to a lack of staff, to be overcrowded.
And the extent of the current RSV wave is also evident in schools.
A teacher from Munich reports in a
Focus
interview: "Of the 150 elementary school students, 70 are currently ill." In most cases, an acute respiratory infection caused by RS viruses can be cured at home.
But there are symptoms that indicate a severe course.
Do you have a cold and feel tired and worn out?
Then an RSV infection could be behind it.
© AndreyPopov/Imago
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Recognizing RSV infection: an overview of typical symptoms
"An RSV infection can show the spectrum of symptoms from a simple respiratory infection to a severe disease of the lower respiratory tract requiring ventilation or can also be asymptomatic," describes the
Robert Koch Institute (RKI)
.
Up to and including a stay in hospital: In this respect, an infection with the RS virus is similar to flu, which can also be life-threatening.
According to the RKI,
the following symptoms are
typical of an infection with RS viruses:
Fever
Sniffles
non-productive cough
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After the RSV infection, symptoms of the upper respiratory tract such as a runny nose are usually the first to appear, which can progress to symptoms of lower respiratory tract diseases within the first three days of the disease, the RKI
informs
.
If the lower airways are affected, there is usually a productive cough.
Shortness of breath and shortness of breath can also occur as part of an infection of the lower respiratory tract.
At the latest when breathing problems occur, a doctor must be consulted.
RSV infection: recognizing severe courses
The following symptoms of an infection with RS viruses indicate a severe course of the disease and should be clarified by a doctor.
If in doubt, call the emergency number (112) to get medical help as quickly as possible:
High fever
shortness of breath
In infants in the first months of life: breathing problems, rapid and shallow breathing, rattling noises when breathing in and out, blue lips (signs of lack of oxygen), difficulty in eating (refusing to drink)
