When your pediatrician listens to your baby's lungs, if they have RSV and bronchiolitis, it actually sounds like Rice Krispies in the lungs; it's just all crackly. Quite often, pediatricians are able to get a good idea if your child has RSV or not just based on the symptoms.
Children with RSV typically have two to four days of upper respiratory tract symptoms, such as fever and runny nose/congestion. These are then followed by lower respiratory tract symptoms, like increasing wheezing cough that sounds wet and forceful with increased work breathing.
Wheezing is the main symptom that helps with diagnosis. Wheezing is a high-pitched purring or whistling sound. You can hear it best when your child is breathing out. Rapid breathing at a rate of over 40 breaths per minute.
A barking or wheezing cough can be one of the first signs of a more serious illness. In these instances, the virus has spread to the lower respiratory tract, causing inflammation of the small airways entering the lungs. This can lead to pneumonia or bronchiolitis.
You won't be able to tell the difference between a cold and respiratory syncytial virus in your home. You must to go to a healthcare professional to determine whether it's a cold or RSV.
Call your child's health care provider if your child: seems sick, shows signs of RSV and is less than 6 months of age or at high risk. has thick mucus from the nose or mouth that is yellow, green or gray.
Both rRT-PCR and antigen detection tests are effective methods for diagnosing RSV infection in infants and young children. The RSV sensitivity of antigen detection tests generally ranges from 80% to 90% in this age group.
In adults and older children, RSV usually causes mild cold-like signs and symptoms. These may include: Congested or runny nose. Dry cough.
A sick baby's symptoms might, unfortunately, get worse at night—especially their cough, warns Ashanti Woods, MD, a pediatrician at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. “Many babies will have disturbed sleep, especially in the first few days of an RSV infection,” he explains.
“The hallmark of RSV is that it causes a lot of mucus production that causes you to blow your nose more frequently,” Dr. Dias says. Other symptoms may include a slight cough, a decrease in appetite, and low-grade fever.
These RSV cases start as an upper respiratory illness that gets worse over a few days. Patients have more and more trouble breathing. They start wheezing and can hear crackles in both lungs. Health care providers may suspect bronchiolitis because of RSV if there have been many cases in the community.
How long does RSV last? People with mild RSV may have symptoms for 3-8 days, but the virus can linger for several weeks. “A mild cough can linger for a long time, four to eight weeks at times, and can be normal,” Payden said.
Symptoms start about 2 to 5 days after contact with the virus. The early phase of RSV in babies and young children is often mild, like a cold. In children younger than age 3, the illness may move into the lungs and cause coughing and wheezing. In some children, the infection turns to a severe respiratory disease.
In adults and older children, RSV is typically a mild illness very similar to the common cold. In infants and the elderly, the symptoms can be more severe.
RSV symptoms are typically at their worst on days 3 through 5 of illness. Fortunately, almost all children recover from an RSV infection on their own.
RSV is most dangerous in newborns and infants younger than 6 months of age. That's because it causes a substantial amount of inflammation in the airways and extra mucus production in both the nasal and lung airways.
RSV symptoms peak around day 5 of the illness and often improve at 7–10 days. However, the cough may linger for about 4 weeks due to the slow recovery of the ciliated cells.
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RSV does not cause a barking cough, although it may cause mild cold-like symptoms. Children with croup exhibit a high pitched, barking cough, whereas children with RSV generally have a wet and forceful cough.
Mild RSV symptoms are similar to the common cold and don't require treatment from a healthcare provider. RSV usually goes away on its own within one to two weeks.
Stay home from work or school when sick, until symptoms subside. If you have very young children or elderly adults at home, including a child who was born 29 weeks or earlier or a child or adult with congenial lung disease, try to keep them isolated from family members who develop respiratory viruses or symptoms.
People infected with RSV are usually contagious for 3 to 8 days and may become contagious a day or two before they start showing signs of illness. However, some infants, and people with weakened immune systems, can continue to spread the virus even after they stop showing symptoms, for as long as 4 weeks.
If you have RSV, stay home as much as possible until you're no longer contagious. If you go out, wear a mask. And make sure to avoid people who are at risk for serious RSV infection, including infants, older adults, and those with chronic medical conditions.