The Children's Hospital At Saint Francis Medical Director Speaks On Rise In RSV Cases

Saint Francis doctors said they are seeing a big jump in the number of kids being admitted to the hospital with RSV. It's the highest number of RSV patients they've seen since before the pandemic.

Doctors at The Children's Hospital at Saint Francis said their beds are filling up with children with RSV, with about 40 of the 90 patients in the pediatric unit sick with the virus.

"Sometimes multiple times a year we will see a round of RSV, for the Children's Hospital this is the highest level of acuity we've seen since prior to COVID," said Dr. Travis Campbell.

Medical Director at the Children's Hospital Doctor Travis Campbell said RSV affects kids differently, based on their age.

He said babies up to six months have the biggest chance of ending up in the hospital.

"Kids will be noisy with RSV, they will have increased secretion that they will try to breathe through so that will make them noisy, but they should not be distressed, they should not be breathing fast, they should not be using extra muscles to move air in and out, if they are doing that they need to seek medical attention," he said.

He said symptoms typically stop and the virus runs its course after about five or six days.

Dr. Campbell said there's two main signs to look for if your child is sick, their breathing and hydration levels.

"If they are breathing sixty times a minute or more consistently, that's a time to seek medical attention, if they are using accessory muscles, muscles between their ribs or belly moving techniques to move air, that's a time to seek medical attention and of course on the hydration side if they are not producing four wet diapers in a 24 hour period, time to look at hydration," Dr. Campbell said.

Dr. Campbell said the best thing you can do is wash your kid's hands, keep them home and isolated if they are sick, and take them to the doctor if symptoms get worse.

He said while it's hard to predict what will happen in the next few months, he is worried about the rise in cases, not just in Tulsa, but across the country.

"Bed capacity is going to be reached, the amount of intervention needed for a child with RSV, is going to increase, those demands are really high right now and what we don't know is what the flu season is going to do as we creep more into the winter months," he said.