RSV

While the trends are encouraging, health experts say we may not be out of the woods yet.

Nurses at Children’s Health in North Texas have seen patients through surges of COVID-19, the flu, and now RSV.

One week in December saw 514 patients test positive for flu compared to 43 the same week in 2021. Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, chief of infectious diseases, told KERA’s Sam Baker, the increase stems in part from a return to pre-pandemic behavior.

According to Dr. Peter Hotez of Baylor College of Medicine, there are seven respiratory viruses infecting people in large numbers this season.

COVID-19 cases have been steadily increasing since Thanksgiving, with more than 18,000 new cases this past week. On top of that, doctors are dealing with an influx of RSV and flu patients.

An expert says relaxed masking and fewer COVID-era precautions are likely behind the rise.

“I think we are just in the beginning of, unfortunately, this crisis … I think things are going to get, unfortunately, a little worse,” says San Antonio-based Dr. Mehmood Khan.

Children’s hospitals around the country are grappling with an early peak of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

Children’s hospitals across North Texas are struggling to keep up with an influx in patients as more children are being admitted for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

More children are being treated in Texas hospitals for COVID-19 than ever before, and an unseasonable outbreak of respiratory syncytial virus is adding to the stress on children’s hospitals.

Amid the pandemic, seasonal viruses like flu and West Nile virus have shown up in North Texas, but not RSV, a respiratory virus that affects mostly young children.

Amid high flu activity in North Texas, health officials also are tracking respiratory syncytial (sinSISHuhl) virus. In this edition of KERA's consumer…