Seasonal Respiratory Viruses Are Peaking for Young Children

Frederica Freyberg:
Turning to health, hospitals around the state are filling up. And the first flu-related pediatric death has occurred. This as respiratory viruses are peaking, particularly among infants up to four years old.

Jonathan Temte:
They tend to have immune systems that are not experienced with viruses. They tend to be smaller. So for example, respiratory syncytial virus or RSV can cause a lot of secretion and produce difficulty breathing. And almost with any of the viruses, we see a lot more fever with the first or second time exposure as compared to those of us older who’ve seen many of these viruses many, many times. … So the fact that Wisconsin has had one death in a child is fairly average for influenza but is very tragic because most of these children don’t have underlying medical problems, and most of them have not been vaccinated. … We’re watching very, very closely for this avian influenza and the potential that it could jump into humans. As of today, we know of at least three cases across the country where we don’t know where the individual contracted the virus from. Most of the other cases have been from dairy cattle or from poultry, but it’s really worrisome. And I mention that simply because during the time that we have the regular influenza circulating, we have the potential for mixing within individuals and the production of different viruses that could attain the ability to spread human to human. And so that’s one of the biggest new concerns we have out there.