This respiratory virus season is looking to be an unusual one for Northeast Ohio.
Fewer babies are ending up in hospitals with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the virus that can make infants very sick.
Doctors say higher use of the RSV vaccine for pregnant women and antibody shots for newborns — both available to the public since 2023 — are helping keep infants healthy.
“This year, I'm not entirely sure that I've seen an RSV kid in the hospital. I think I've seen maybe one or two,” says Dr. Amy Edwards, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital.
In past years, RSV season has peaked in early December, with hospitals seeing a surge of infants needing ICU care, oxygen or IV nutrition.
Edwards said the RSV vaccine and antibody shots have reduced hospitalizations and help protect babies from RSV infections in early infancy, which can increase the risk of asthma and allergies later in life.
“RSV infections in the first six months of life have just layers and layers of problems for children," she said. "It’s been fantastic to have these kids missing from our hospitals because kids do not belong in the hospital."
But there’s also some bad news this year: Influenza A is hitting hard.
Children and older adults are still ending up in intensive care with serious infections, in part due to a mismatch between the flu A vaccine and the dominant mutant strain circulating this season.
Edwards said it's important people stay home when they're sick, cover coughs and sneezes and frequently wash hands to prevent spread of illness.
