Doctors are seeing a “significant increase” in cases of a common respiratory virus that is sending more kids to emergency departments in parts of Ontario and Quebec.
RSV causes respiratory infections in people of all ages, but is especially common in. Symptoms are usually mild and include fever, sore throat, dry cough, nasal congestion or runny nose and headache. In some cases, breathing may become so laboured that hospitalization is necessary to ensure adequate oxygen intake. In even rarer and more severe cases, patients may need to be admitted to intensive care.
In Canada, RSV season typically lasts from November to the end of February, but during the pandemic cases dropped off due to public health protections, including distancing and masking, which prevented transmission, said Dr. Earl Rubin, director of the Infectious Diseases Division at the Montreal Children’s Hospital.