(Spirit Lake)– Area healthcare providers are seeing an increase in RSV cases.
RSV is an infection of both the upper and lower respiratory tracts. In young children it can lead to pneumonia and ear infections.
Jennifer Hickerson, Marketing Director at Dickinson County Memorial Hospital, tells KUOO news they’ve been treating five babies a week over the past month or so for RSV.
RSV typcially affects young children. But Hickerson says people of all ages can contract it…especially those in close contact with infected children.
At the onset, the symptoms resemble a cold…then gradually get worse.
Hickerson says frequent handwashing, not sharing eating or drinking utensils and keeping babies under a month old out of close contact with others are good ways to try to avoid the disease.
