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RSV

7 questions ยท Health & Medicine

The RS virus, or RSV for short, is one of the most common causes of respiratory infections and yet barely known to most people, although almost every child has at least one infection with it by the age of two. In older children and healthy adults an RSV infection usually runs like an ordinary cold, with a runny nose, cough and slight fever. The virus becomes dangerous, however, at the two ends of life: in small infants it can inflame the fine bronchi and trigger bronchiolitis, which leads to breathing difficulty and regularly fills children's clinics in winter; and in old or immunocompromised people it can cause severe pneumonia. Like many respiratory viruses, RSV moves in waves through the cold season. For a long time there was little against it besides easing the symptoms. In recent years, however, medicine has made great progress: there are now vaccines for the elderly and for pregnant women, as well as protective antibodies that can be given to newborns to carry them through their first RSV season. This finally allows the long-underestimated virus to be kept better in check.

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4 of 7 questions with answers

Which part of the body does RSV attack?

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The airways

It usually begins like a cold.

๐Ÿ’ก Did you know? In babies it can inflame the bronchi.

For which group is RSV especially dangerous?

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For infants

In them it can cause breathing difficulty.

๐Ÿ’ก Did you know? In winter it fills children's clinics.

How many children are infected early with RSV?

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Almost all

By age two it affects most.

๐Ÿ’ก Did you know? One can be infected several times in life.

Which lung condition does RSV cause in babies?

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Bronchiolitis

The fine airways become inflamed.

๐Ÿ’ก Did you know? This makes breathing much harder.

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