Respiratory Syncytial Virus: Complications and Prevention
What complications can result in respiratory syncytial virus infection?
Complications of this pathogen infection occur especially in infants suffering from congenital or cardiopulmonary disorders in premature infants of very low birth weight.
The short-term complications include apnea (breathing very space in which the child spends seconds without breathing), respiratory failure (the amount of blood carrying oxygen is much lower than it should go) and, more unusually, infections associated bacteria.
What is the treatment of infection with respiratory syncytial virus?
Infants infected with this organism require hospitalization to ensure good supportive care. This aspect is of utmost importance as requiring monitoring of respiratory and blood oxygen level. Among the pharmacological treatment used there are some highly effective antiviral drugs such as the ribavirin.
Can you do any kind of prevention?
It is being studied to develop a safe and effective vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus, but certain aspects of the virus makes its appearance is lagging.
Prevention is preferable to treatment, but unfortunately it is a goal that has not yet been reached. This is because the age of the patients is very difficult early preventive intervention on the disease. Some studies have suggested that breast conditions a series of defenses and protects children from infection, since breast-fed children require fewer revenues.
The virus is spread through droplets of saliva, but indirectly also can do it from the hands that touch contaminated surfaces infectious secretions in the environment, so thorough washing of hands is of utmost importance.
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