5 Ways to Prevent RSV
I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for MedImmune. I received product samples to facilitate my review as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation.
What do you know about RSV? When I hear the term, “RSV,” I immediately think of sickly babies and death. It is a scary term for new parents everywhere. It’s even scarier when we don’t understand what it is or how we can prevent it. I hope I can help ease the worries of those reading this post who may not have understood it before.
As parents, we want the best for our children. We want them to be safe and healthy and we will do anything to keep them out of harm’s way. One way we can do this is by gaining knowledge about diseases that could harm our children and doing what we can to prevent the spread of them. With the winter months coming up, the threat of RSV becomes very real and is a very scary thing, especially to new parents or those with premature babies.
What is RSV? Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a common seasonal virus, contracted by nearly all children by the age of two. It typically causes mild to moderate cold-like symptoms in healthy, full-term babies. However, in some babies (especially those born prematurely), it can cause a serious infection. RSV is highly contagious and is spread by way of coughs and sneezes, but can also live on surfaces, hands and clothing. With viruses spreading rapidly through schools and daycare centers, our kids may still bring germs home to baby brothers and sisters, but rest assured, there are still ways to prevent RSV.
How to Prevent RSV
November 17th, 2014 is World Prematurity Day, making it a perfect time to learn more about RSV. RSV occurs in epidemics each year, usually from the months of November through March. It does vary based on where you live and can differ from year to year. Did you know that RSV is the leading cause of hospitalization for babies during their first year of life? In the United States alone, there are 125,000 hospitalizations and up to 200 infants deaths each year. Those are some pretty scary numbers! I think part of the reason is because many parents aren’t aware of RSV. In fact, one-third of mothers have never even heard of the virus. Now that’s really scary!
Pre-Mature Infants & Severe RSV Disease
As I mentioned earlier, preemies are at a higher risk for developing severe RSV disease. As a matter of fact, preterm infants are twice as likely as full-term infants to be admitted to the hospital for RSV-related symptoms. If your baby develops any of the following symptoms of Severe RSV Disease, you should contact his or her pediatrician immediately.
- Persistent coughing or wheezing
- Bluish color around the mouth or fingernails
- Rapid, difficult, or gasping breaths
- Fever (especially if it is over 100.4°F [rectal] in infants under 3 months of age)
It is very important to understand that RSV is very contagious and be spread easily through touching, sneezing and coughing. The virus can even live on the skin and surfaces for hours. Once RSV is contracted, there is not treatment for it, so prevention is super important. Here are 5 ways you can prevent RSV:
- Wash your hands and ask others to do the same
- Keep toys, clothes, blankets and sheets clean
- Avoid crowds and other young children during RSV season
- Never let anyone smoke around your baby
- Steer clear of people who are sick or who have recently been sick
You can learn more about RSV by talking to your pediatrician, learning about RSV season where you live and reading real stories of families’ experiences with RSV disease once it’s contracted. Be sure to check out this helpful site for more RSV information as well.
Do you have a personal experience with RSV? How did you prevent it?
I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for MedImmune. I received product samples to facilitate my review as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation.
I used to be very careful when my Daughter was young. I was so afraid she would get sick, so I followed many of the tips you have listed. They are great tips and should be standard procedure.
After my oldest son contracted RSV I was a lot more careful with my other kids. You had to ALWAYS wash your hands before you touched any of them etc. RSV awareness needs to be promoted more.
It’s awful that the ones that are effected the most by this are the littlest, most innocent ones.
My oldest son had RSV when he was six months old. He was very sick but luckily, since he wasn’t a preemie, he responded well to the doctor’s treatment.
I take care of a child during the day and he was very susceptible to RSV since he was born 3 months early. This family were pretty much trapped in their home for fear of him getting sick.
This is one scary thing for parents to think about. I hate the commercials but the information needs to be shared.
Thank you so much for this very important information. I have two babies in the NICU right now, my grandchildren and I had no idea about this disease! This is something that we are going to have to be very vigilant about. They have had enough problems without adding more.
I love that awareness is being raised for this. I have a friend that her little one had this and it was so scarry for them.
We’ve been fortunate to not have experienced RSV in our house. It’s a scary illness to deal with!
I’m so glad my kids are no longer babies, and I don’t need to worry about this!
Great tips! We’ve never had it at my house. I’m not even sure how we prevented it but we don’t go out much so that could contribute!
I have to admit I don’t know much about RSV I can imagine it would be very scary for a parent though. x
This can help people become prepared before pregnancy. Being caught off guard with RSV could be very scary.
wow, that is horrible, thank you so much for sharing this useful post and tips 🙂
Thank you for explaining this on your post today. I can imagine it must be very scary for parents with young babies!
I had never even heard of this until recently. It’s great that you’re helping to raise awareness.
RSV sounds so horrible thank you for these 5 ways to prevent it; this will surely help some people very much!
Hand washing is so important to prevent the spread of things like RSV. You can never be too safe with your babies.
RSV is so scary. We thought my daughter had it when she was a baby.
I have a child with a rare genetic disorder but we have never dealt with RSV
This has been a learning experience for me. I was not familiar with RSV until now
This is such an important post. Thank you so much for raising awareness!
Thanks for sharing great info. I did know much about Respiratory Syncytial Virus and I learned a lot of new things from your post. I always get worried and little bit scared when my daughter gets sick.
This is a very scary topic. The only way to stop the fear and the sickness is to learn and be aware
RSV is very scary, thank you for these tips; they could help someone so much!
My husband is a respiratory therapist, so sadly, he deals/hears about RSV cases daily.
I haven’t heard much about it until lately. I like that the word is getting out. Awareness is a great thing for many reasons.
I have never had to deal with RSV when my girls were younger but I feel for those parents that have had to. It is no fun watching your little baby struggling and sick.
My kids were born 27 years ago and i do not remember being taught about RSV. It is so important to get this information out there.
I didn’t even know about RSV until I read this post. It’s so scary! I need to share this especially to the first time parents out there!
Excellent tips! It’s so important to be extra careful with kids and babies