As families and friends gather for holiday celebrations, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), also makes its return.
For most healthy adults, RSV may feel like a bad cold, but for infants and older adults, it can lead to serious illness, hospitalization, or death. There are vaccines and preventive options that can protect those at highest risk during RSV season, which typically lasts from October to March in Kentucky.
According to Louisville Metro Health and Wellness, nearly all children are infected with RSV at least once before they are two years old and some of them get very sick. Historically, two to three out of every 100 young infants with RSV need hospitalization because of their infection. There are now two ways to protect infants from severe RSV disease.
The mother can get RSV vaccine before the baby is born. In response to the vaccine, the mother’s immune system produces antibodies that pass through the placenta to the baby before birth, protecting the newborn immediately after birth and during their first months of life. A single dose of RSV vaccine is recommended for expecting mothers between 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy September through January.
If the mother doesn’t receive the RSV vaccine during pregnancy, infants can also be protected directly with a long-acting antibody shot that boosts the immune system and helps it fight off RSV.
The antibody injection is recommended for babies younger than 8 months old entering or born during RSV season, as well as older infants (age 8–19 months) with certain health conditions. The shot is administered from October to March. If the mother received the RSV vaccine at the right time during pregnancy, the baby usually won’t need to get the antibody injection, too.
RSV isn’t just a pediatric disease, it can be particularly dangerous for adults aged 75 years or older, and those aged 50 – 74 years with certain health conditions that increase the risk of serious illness, such as lung disease, heart disease, or immunocompromising conditions. It’s recommended that these groups receive a single lifetime dose of the RSV vaccine.
RSV sends hundreds of thousands of older adults and infants to the hospital and causes over 10,000 deaths each year. The RSV vaccine and antibody injection offer strong protection against serious illness, and they’re available now.
Make an appointment with your doctor, pharmacist, or local public health service for your vaccination.
(Photo courtesy of KIMT.com)
By Tom Latek, Kentucky Today
