While it is impossible to anticipate in advance how long a child with a severe case of RSV would need to spend in intensive care, recent study has uncovered indicators that may help doctors identify which children will need a lengthier stay.
Researchers from the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago collected nose swabs from kids who had RSV and were in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) a few days after being admitted to the hospital to explore the problem.
The group looked at the genes that become active in response to RSV, also known as respiratory syncytial virus.
Some kids displayed symptoms of higher damage to the cells lining the inside of the nostrils while having the same amount of RSV and the same clinical presentation. According to studies, longer stays in PICU were associated with this.
Dr. Bria Coates, a critical care physician at Lurie Children’s, is the senior author of the study and said, “We were excited to learn that the severity of a child’s illness connected to the different sets of genes turned on in their body’s reaction to RSV.” Parents and medical professionals would benefit greatly from knowing which infants with RSV in intensive care will recover fast and which patients may need a longer stay.
Although intriguing, these findings must be confirmed in a broader population of kids before they can be applied clinically, according to Coates.
In a hospital news release, Coates stated, “At this stage, we saw that increased injury in the nasal mucosal membranes of children with RSV may be a hallmark of a dysregulated response to the virus and predict more prolonged illness.” These are encouraging discoveries that may ultimately provide parents and the care team with better solutions.
The research results have just been released in the journal Frontiers in Immunology.
Information about
RSV information can be found at the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
SOURCE: A news release from the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
