Children's immunity at risk

摘要

THE coronavirus pandemic has left children vulnerable to other infections, in part due to reduced interactions as a result of lockdowns and social distancing. In Australia, which has largely been covid-free for the past six months, there has been a delayed surge in cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common, flu-like illness that causes a lung infection called bronchiolitis and often has the most serious effects in children under the age of 2. RSV infections typically peak in winter, but in 2020, the RSV season in Australia was curtailed by covid-19 stay-at-home orders and public health measures. In Western Australia, a recent analysis of hospital presentations shows that RSV cases dropped by 98 per cent during the winter months of 2020 compared with the same period in previous years, but began to surge in spring, in late September, eventually exceeding the median seasonal peak from 2012 to 2019 (Clinical Infectious Diseases, doi.org/f8s5).