Deadly virus strikes infants with lung impairment

February 21, 2000
Web posted at: 2:16 p.m. EST (1916 GMT)

From staff reports

(CNN) -- Parents of premature infants and other babies at high risk for lung infections should take extra care to help protect them from a potential killer with symptoms that begin much like the common cold, medical experts warn.

Respiratory syncytial virus -- known as RSV -- sends about 90,000 children to hospitals each year in the United States. About 1-in-50 these children die from RSV.

Most children come in contact with the virus, and the result is usually little more than a cold, said Dr. LeRoy Graham, a pediatric pulmonologist at Children's Healthcare at Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta.

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But at-risk infants, including those born prematurely and those who suffer from a chronic lung condition called bronchopulmonary dysplasia, the consequences can be more serious.

"Even if your baby did not have significant respiratory problems after delivery, he or she may be at significant risk for contracting RSV," Graham said.

Common symptoms of RSV infections are a low-grade fever, runny nose, coughing, difficulty breathing, wheezing and rapid breathing.

These cold-like symptoms should be closely monitored by parents of at-risk infants, Graham said.

He recommended the following steps: