Worst Respiratory Syncytial Virus Outbreak in Chile: Four Babies Died and Pediatric ICU Capacity Burdened

Jakarta –

Chile has been hit by its worst respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) outbreak in years. It was reported that four babies died and the capacity burden of the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) increased.

Yessenia Sanchez, the mother of one of the babies who died, said she waited for an ambulance from 8am to 10pm local time to transfer her baby to the ICU.

“At that time my baby had two heart attacks,” said Sanchez, who is from Quilpe in the Valparaiso metropolitan area.

A report from Chile’s Ministry of Health on Friday showed that the country’s average pediatric ICU bed capacity has reached 94 percent.

“Even though (RSV) has been surging recently, in fact we are facing one of the biggest outbreaks in years,” Health Minister Ximena Aguilera said, adding that children under one year of age were most at risk.

“The severity of this outbreak is related to low testing for other viruses during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

“There’s a different immunological situation now, a greater vulnerability, and that leaves us with an unusually high circulation of the virus,” said Aguilera.

This situation is also usually exacerbated in Santiago due to the intense air pollution in the city which is located in a hollow surrounded by hills.

RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children under 1 year of age and causes considerable illness. And for babies under 6 months, this virus is quite dangerous because it can cause death. In some cases, children have to be hospitalized because of this virus.

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(naf/naf)