Alaska Public Health Advisory Respiratory Syncytial Virus Season in Alaska
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) season has arrived in Alaska. RSV causes acute respiratory tract illness in patients of all ages and occurs in annual epidemics of variable extent during winter and early spring in temperate climates. Severe RSV illness is more likely to occur in infants and young c...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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2007
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.638.5720 http://www.epi.hss.state.ak.us/id/dod/rsv/RSV_PublicHealthAdvisory.pdf |
| Summary: | Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) season has arrived in Alaska. RSV causes acute respiratory tract illness in patients of all ages and occurs in annual epidemics of variable extent during winter and early spring in temperate climates. Severe RSV illness is more likely to occur in infants and young children, especially those with chronic lung disease and prematurely born infants with or without chronic lung disease. While RSV infection is not reportable in Alaska, outbreaks of an unusual number of any infectious disease are reportable to the Alaska Section of Epidemiology. Since January 1 of this year, health care providers at Samuel Simmonds Memorial Hospital have reported an outbreak of RSV in North Slope Borough communities that resulted in the hospitalization of 46 infants and young children. Of the 44 hospitalized children, 19 (41%) required mechanical ventilation and medical transport to Anchorage for intensive care. |
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