Huayu News According to a Chinese pioneer in New Zealand, a major outbreak of RSV virus!
Many children's hospitals in New Zealand are hard to find a bed!
Now good news
New Zealand experts are developing RSV vaccine
has entered the Phase 3 trial...
Outbreaks surge in patients across the country
As early as before the Antarctic storm hit at the end of June, we reported that the spread of the virus surged in winter, and many children in New Zealand were sick and seek medical treatment.
On June 21, the pediatrics at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland ushered in the busiest day in history.
On the same day, 140 patients under the age of 18 went to the pediatric emergency department.
Now half a month has passed, and the situation is even more serious.
On June 28, 415 patients flocked to the emergency room of Counties Manukau Health in Auckland that day.
Auckland Children's Hospital Starship Hospital is even more "hard to find a bed". Even in the middle of the night, parents who rush into the emergency room with their children in their arms can frequently appear.
Because there are too many patients, Middlemore Hospital temporarily renovated a ward that can accommodate 11 infants and young children who need special care.
Except for the most populous Auckland, the same is true for other cities.
In the past month, one Wellington hospital alone has received 100 patients, including more than 20 children of different ages, and many are in the ICU.
Hutt Hospital treated 116 patients in July, 24 of whom needed to be hospitalized.
Rotorua Hospital has seen an explosive increase since June 11, with an average of 7 children admitted every day. By last week, there were twenty or thirty people in the emergency room every day.
There are 5 children in the intensive care unit of Hawkes Bay Hospital, and there are several children in the children's ward that need oxygen.
The hospital's doctor Moore said that in his 28 years of medical practice, he has never seen so many pediatric patients like in 2021.
Canterbury, South Island, had to postpone four surgeries this Monday as many children need emergency care. In the Emergency Department of Christchurch Hospital, the number of such patients last month was three times that of June 2020.
In addition, the school’s attendance rate also indicates a large-scale outbreak.
New Zealand President Perry Rush said primary school attendance in urban areas has dropped sharply by 10% to 50% due to respiratory illness and stomach discomfort.
According to statistics, in the past 4 weeks, New Zealand has reported 902 cases nationwide, and the number is still rising.
The same way as the new crown
The winter virus that children suffer from is called respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), referred to as RSV.
RSV and COVID-19 are the same RNA virus that causes respiratory inflammation. The symptoms and transmission methods of the two are very similar.
The main symptoms are cough, fever, headache, muscle soreness, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea may also occur (especially in children).
According to the World Health Organization report, around the world, about 64 million children are infected with RSV every year, of which nearly 3.5 million are admitted to hospital due to severe RSV infection.
is 16 times that of influenza. Every year, 200,000 children under 5 years of age die from RSV infection, which is a major factor in the hospitalization and death of children around the world.
The most important thing is that RSV has no suitable medicine to treat, and can only rely on the autoimmune system.
is suspected to be transmitted from Australia and
RSV has also appeared in New Zealand before. According to monitoring by the New Zealand Institute of Environmental Sciences (ESR), between 2015 and 2019, there were an average of 1,743 patients in New Zealand each year.
However, in 2020, the border was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and other measures such as lockdowns lowered the incidence of RSV by 98%.
However, the major outbreak in 2021 is suspected to be related to the start of tourism communication between Australia and New Zealand at the end of April.
New Zealand virologist Sue Huang, who tracks influenza diseases, said the number of reports of RSV hospitals has increased dramatically since New Zealand opened up communication to Australia.
"In the first week of the opening of the Australian and New Zealand Internet connection, we had only one RSV patient. But later, the number of RSV patients continued to increase. By mid-June, there were more than 100 cases per week, and 538 cases in two weeks."
And the situation in Australia can also support experts' suspicion.
At the end of 2020, signs of RSV outbreaks occurred in Australia one after another.
In December 2020, RSV patients surged sharply in December 2020.
In March 2021, the number of RSV patients in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and other places surged.
Rotorua Lakes DHB pediatrician Steve Bradley said, “RSV disappeared during the 2020 lockdown and we believe it has been eliminated… However, it has not disappeared in Australia and it seems to have re-entered New Zealand in the past few weeks and is now very mature”.
Dr. Jemma Geoghegan, a virologist at the University of Otago, said on July 8 that genome sequencing is underway, and ESR scientists work with Australian counterparts to understand more accurately how the virus may spread. What should I do if I encounter
?
RSV usually develops symptoms about 4 to 6 days after exposure to the virus. Basically similar to a mild cold. Such as nasal congestion, dry cough, sore throat or headache.
When severe, RSV will spread to the lungs, causing pneumonia or bronchiolitis, causing severe cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, and the skin will be light blue due to hypoxia.
New Zealand Ministry of Health said many children can recover by staying at home, but some children need to be sent to the hospital. In particular, very small babies and premature babies may become seriously ill and may require hospitalization.
The Ministry of Health said antibiotics are usually useless because it is a viral infection.
Most RSV infections will disappear on their own within 1 to 2 weeks. There is no special treatment for RSV infection. Generally, paracetamol is used to control fever and pain, drink more water, and prevent dehydration.
If you are worried, you can call the free Healthline hotline on 0800 611 116.
New Zealand experts participated in the development of the vaccine
However, there was good news on July 8 that the RSV vaccine is under development.
Pediatric infectious disease expert Tony Walls from the University of Otago has participated in international clinical trials of two new vaccines to help fight RSV.
He told the media that no other RSV vaccines have been tested in large scale before.
He said one of the vaccines will be provided to pregnant women, just like the whooping cough vaccine, which can prevent their babies from suffering from whooping cough.
"We vaccinate women during pregnancy, hoping that they can pass their immunity to the baby and keep the baby safe from RSV in the first few months of birth."
Another trial was to inject antibodies to healthy babies shortly after birth.
"This also works, it provides babies with immunity during the first 3 to 6 months, hoping to prevent them from getting infected with RSV."
Walls said they are conducting a Phase 3 trial, which is the stage to determine if the vaccine is really effective.
I really hope that the test can succeed as soon as possible
will conquer the RSV virus as soon as possible. (Original title: The situation is critical! An outbreak in all parts of New Zealand! A bed in the ward is hard to find! Experts are developing vaccines and entering the third phase of the trial...)
