RSV on the rise in Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is on the rise in Indiana, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , and it’s forcing some hospitals to implement visitor restrictions.
Dr. Christopher Doehring, of Franciscan Health in Indianapolis, spoke with News 8 about why this respiratory virus increases during winter months and what hospitals are doing to prevent its spread.
“Like most of the respiratory viruses, as the weather turns cooler and people spend more time inside and around each other, its a just a highly contagious respiratory virus,” Doehring said. “Like all respiratory viruses, we tend to see an increase in cases this time of year.”
Holiday get-togethers can help spread the virus.
“You start to see around Thanksgiving time, you start having families coming together,” Doehring said. “They’re spending times in doors and it’s multiple generations together. It’s a natural epidemiologic phenomenon.”
According to medical experts, RSV causes infections in the lungs. In healthy adults and older children, symptoms are mild, similar to the common cold.