Waves of children with breathing problems in Dutch intensive care units

Pediatric departments and intensive care units for children in Dutch hospitals are currently witnessing an unexpectedly high number of young children with serious respiratory problems due to the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), NOS reported on Friday.

According to the Dutch public health institute RIVM, RSV is the most common cold virus among young children, with almost all children contracting it in their first year of life. Symptoms include a runny nose and cough, with more severe cases involving wheezing, shortness of breath, and high fever.

The virus often leads to symptoms that cause babies to drink less, and parents are advised to get immediate medical attention if their baby shows cold-like symptoms within the first month of life. Although it is rare for a child to die of the virus in the Netherlands, about 150 to 200 babies end up in ICU due to RSV per year. Among healthy infants, one in 56 is hospitalized due to an RS infection.

What is notable this year is that the peak in the number of RSV infections is happening much earlier compared to previous years, with the usual peak being in December. The current number of infections is already twice as high as it was during the same period last year.

According to Lissy de Ridder, chairman of the Dutch Association of Pediatrics (NVK), the situation is still manageable. However, she noted that due to capacity issues, patients might have to travel significant distances for emergency care. “For example, people from Brabant who have to go to Noord-Holland with their child because there is no more capacity in Brabant." As of Friday, nobody had been sent abroaddue to lack of capacity.

The University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) also observed a noticeable peak in patients with the RS virus. "The peaks of the RSV were always fairly predictable, but since corona that predictability is no longer so certain. So we don't know whether it will remain that way,” said Eduard Verhagen, head of the Beatrix Children's Hospital UMCG.

Earlier this year, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved a vaccine against the RSV. The vaccine, produced by Pfizer, can be administered to pregnant women, offering protection to their baby for the first six months after birth.