SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Hospitals in the Sacramento region are seeing a surge in cases of the Respiratory Syncytial Virus, better known as RSV, months ahead of when the virus usually peaks.
"Dignity Health has been seeing a significant increase in RSV in the past two to three weeks," said Ravneel Singh, a physician assistant at Dignity Health. "It's mostly impacting the babies and the children. We haven't seen RSV in the last couple of years because of COVID safety precautions in place, but it's making a comeback for sure."
Health experts are also predicting a bad flu season and worry there could be a so-called 'tripledemic' with COVID-19 cases added in the mix.
"I am very concerned about that too because we are seeing positive flu, COVID-19 and RSV tests in our own clinic," Singh said.
On Monday, the California Department of Public Health announced the state's first child under the age of five died from the flu and RSV. Singh says it's that age group along with the elderly that are at highest risk for complications from RSV.
"It usually causes upper respiratory symptoms such as a runny nose, sinus congestion and stuffiness, fevers, but it becomes a problem when it causes lower respiratory symptoms and that means possibly bronchopneumonia or pneumonia," Singh said.
ABC10 spoke to Cameron Bueche, a father of a newborn and a toddler, who said he's not taking any chances.
"My only concern is keeping sick people away because my sister's sick and she hasn't even gotten to see the newborn," Bueche said.
Although there's no vaccine for RSV yet, both of Bueche's sons have already received their flu shots.
"I'm taking every precaution like mask up and everything around people who may or may not be sick," Bueche said.
Simple preventative measures like frequent hand washing, regularly disinfecting surfaces along with avoiding contact with sick people can go a long way, according to Singh. He also added that most people who get RSV usually have mild symptoms and don't develop pneumonia and other complications.
"It's only a small percentage of the population that gets to that level. Now, with more cases coming in, the chances of that number going up is a lot higher," Singh said.
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