Winnipeg mom warns parents after previously healthy toddler admitted to ICU with respiratory virus
CBC
A mother whose toddler was admitted to a Winnipeg intensive care unit with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is cautioning parents to be vigilant as a number of viruses are circulating this fall.
Lauren Kelly says her almost two-year-old daughter was healthy before October.
Earlier this month, the child caught COVID-19 and didn't really recover, Kelly said.
She took her daughter to Health Sciences Centre last Friday, and the toddler was admitted to the pediatric ICU with a diagnosis of RSV after a course of asthma medication failed to address her breathing problems.
"She's not the kind of kid we'd expected to take to emergency with a common cold," Kelly said.
Symptoms of RSV resemble those from colds and flu, such as coughing, runny nose, fever and loss of appetite, but they can worsen and affect a child's breathing.
Kelly's daughter was moved out of ICU on Monday and is breathing much better, but the experience was "terrifying. Certainly not something I'd wish on any parent," she said.
The girl needs to be able to breathe without additional oxygen for at least 24 hours before being released from hospital. The family hopes to be able to take her home on Saturday.
Even so, Kelly says she's worried about taking her daughter back to daycare because she's now more susceptible to serious outcomes from other infections.
She hopes other parents will be careful, knowing that COVID-19, RSV and other viruses are going around.
"Parents need to know that this virus is going around and that it can cause severe outcomes in kids even with no risk factors. So that's something I think parents need to keep an extra eye out for," Kelly said.
On Thursday, the head of Health Sciences Centre said Winnipeg's Children's Hospital is seeing a spike in the number of children being admitted to hospital with respiratory issues, including RSV.
Since July, there have been 46 RSV-related hospitalizations at Children's Hospital, a spokesperson for Manitoba Shared Health said in an email Friday.
There have been 11 RSV-related hospitalizations so far in October, two of which required admission to the pediatric intensive care unit, the spokesperson said.
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