NEW ORLEANS — There are a lot of sick children in the New Orleans area. About half the kids now being treated at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans have some form of respiratory illness.
“Our city, our state, our region really is a petri dish for viruses right now,” CHNO Chief Medical Officer Dr. Mark Kline said. “There are so many respiratory viruses circulating.”
They include the flu, enterovirus, adenovirus, and RSV.
Dr. Kline sees no evidence the viruses will peak anytime soon.
He expects them to worsen as the weather gets colder and people spend more time indoors.
“My concern really is that we’ll be dealing with these same viruses well into the winter and that Covid 19 will come back in bigger numbers over the months ahead,” Kline said.
Paul Barbarin’s 16-month-old son Lucus was admitted to Children’s Hospital over the weekend with RSV a slight case of pneumonia.
“He recently had what, Covid and flu this year already,” Barbarin said. “Did well with those. It’s just this RSV he’s been having the issues with.”
The Slidell dad says little Lucas is receiving oxygen and responding well to treatment.
“You almost feel helpless that you really can’t do nothing for him. You just wish if it was just me, I could fight it off better than him.”
Dr. Kline says Covid-19 and the mitigation measures taken over the past two years like masking and social distancing changed the way respiratory viruses express themselves.
“Young children, in particular, were not exposed to these viruses and so at this point, they lack any immunity to them and now that those mitigation measures are no longer in place, we’re seeing these viruses spread like wildfire,” Kline said.
Dr. Kline recommends children avoid large gatherings of people who may be infected.
“Don’t send them to school sick,” Kline said. “Good hand washing and then certainly have your kids vaccinated against Influenza and against Covid 19.”
There is a risk of co-infection with so many respiratory viruses out there.
Dr. Kline said some of the sickest kids in the hospital right now have multiple illnesses at the same time.
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