Once again, health officials fear there could be a severe flu season on top of a winter COVID-19 surge, only this time with a twist:
High numbers of a third respiratory illness known as RSV could add to the misery, causing what some are referring to as a “tripledemic.”
The term has been coined as high numbers of respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-uhl) virus, or RSV, are being identified earlier than normal across much of the U.S. Parts of the country also are being hit by an early flu season.
This comes on top of predictions that new coronavirus variants will cause another surge of COVID-19, cases of which continue to inch up in Clark County, according to new data reported Wednesday.
“This is a concern about bad timing,” said Brian Labus, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UNLV’s School of Public Health.
“Any one of these things can put a lot of stress on our ERs,” he said. “All three happening at the same time would very much stress our medical system.”
Early wave of RSV
RSV is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, coldlike symptoms, with most people recovering in a week or two. But RSV can be serious, especially for infants and older adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC has observed a recent increase in detections of RSV and associated emergency department visits and hospitalizations in multiple parts of the country, CDC public affairs representative Kate Grusich said.
“Some regions are experiencing near seasonal peak levels of circulation, which typically occur in December and January,” Grusich said in an email.
Clark County is seeing a “huge bump” in RSV, said Cassius Lockett, director of disease surveillance and control for the Southern Nevada Health District.
There have been 613 cases of RSV identified this month, compared with 483 last October and between 10 to 40 cases in the prior five Octobers, Lockett said.
In Northern Nevada, Dr. Bayo Curry-Winchell said she is seeing in urgent care clinics more cases than normal of RSV, many of them in children.
Most of the cases are mild to moderate, with a cough, runny nose and fever. “We’re also seeing children who are struggling to breathe,” said Curry-Winchell, St. Mary’s urgent care medical director.
There is no vaccine to prevent RSV and no antiviral medication to treat it. Patients with more serious cases can be given fluids and oxygen.
But any increase in cases doesn’t appear to be stressing Nevada hospitals.
“Nevada hospitals are not experiencing the strain caused by RSV, flu and COVID that hospitals in other parts of the country are experiencing,” said Jeanne Corbit with the Nevada Hospital Association.
Pediatric hospital occupancy is at 82 percent this week, which she described as “within the desired range.”
University Medical Center in central Las Vegas has experienced a “noticeable increase in pediatric patients with RSV and other rhinoviruses,” representative Scott Kerbs said.
“This is common for the fall season, and the increased patient volume is not unusual,” he said in an email.
Early flu season
Fears of a severe flu season in the U.S. didn’t come to pass the past two years, which some officials credit to pandemic measures such as masking and social distancing.
Beyond the ending of these measures, there are other reasons to be concerned about the potential for a more severe season this year, officials said.
There was significant influenza in Australia and elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere, where flu season comes months earlier than in the U.S. and which can help predict what lies ahead for the northern hemisphere.
As in the Southern Hemisphere this year, some regions of the U.S. are seeing an earlier start than normal to the flu season.
“Early increases in flu activity have been reported in most of the country, with the highest levels of activity occurring in the southeast and south-central parts of the…
Read More: ‘Tripledemic’ feared: severe flu season, COVID surge, RSV