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Kari Oberloh and her husband, Jesse, traded shifts through the night, holding their wheezing, coughing 4-month-old daughter, Gretchen.
“It was horrible,” Oberloh said. “She had to be propped up even when we changed her because laying flat on her back, even for a short time, would cause her to choke so much.”
The baby slept in 20-minute increments. She wouldn’t eat. She seemed to be laboring to breathe.
Gretchen had respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common virus that usually causes mild colds in adults and older children but can send infants and the elderly to the hospital.
In Dane County and the rest of Wisconsin’s southern region, the number of RSV cases this year is on the rise, which is normal this time of year, according to state public health data.
But doctors say the children with RSV seem to be sicker than usual, and the sickest have spent more days in the hospital than normal.
“They are just sicker, with higher temperatures,” said Dr. Nicole Baumann-Blackmore, a pediatrician with Meriter Medical Group. “They have ended up in the hospital for more days.”
Right now, RSV seems to be more prevalent in Dane County than the much-publicized swine flu, or H1N1, she said.
“We have hospitalized several children with respiratory problems recently, all of which have had RSV,” said Baumann-Blackmore. “We have not hospitalized a patient for H1N1 since December 1, 2009.”
State influenza coordinator Thomas Haupt said it’s too early to tell whether it will be a memorable year for RSV.
“We have had these spikes (in the percentage of people testing positive for RSV) starting in December some years and not till February in others,” he said.
But, in Dane and surrounding counties, the numbers are still going up — positive results from RSV testing are up to close to 45 percent last week, Haupt said.
“That means there is definitely widespread activity and it’s still on the increase,” he said.
In other parts of Wisconsin, however, RSV has already peaked and started to ease off, he said.
Oberloh said her daughter’s illness started with coughing and phlegm.
“Then it was followed by wheezing,” she said. “The first time we went to the doctor she was choking to get breath. Because of that, she was not sleeping. The second time, all of the symptoms just got worse. She hadn’t eaten in 12 or 14 hours, and she could only sleep for 20-minute spurts because of the coughing and wheezing.”
On the second doctor’s visit, X-rays found Gretchen had the start of pneumonia.
There’s no antiviral treatment for the virus, said Dr. Michael Rock, a pediatric pulmonologist at UW Health. Because of swollen airways and wheezing, infants may not want to eat.
“It may not even be safe to feed them. For most children, it just has to run its course,” he said. “The majority of babies can tolerate the virus and be at home.”
But a small minority of babies, particularly those who were premature and have underlying health problems, will need hospitalization for oxygen and hydration, he said.
The symptoms may look bad, but they almost never result in death, Rock said.
Ellen Smith, nurse epidemiologist at St. Mary’s Hospital, said common sense can help minimize spread of the virus.
“That’s why it is so important to wash hands frequently, cover your coughs and sneezes, and don’t kiss young children,” she said.
For Gretchen, Thursday was a breakthrough day, Oberloh said — she’d finally slept through the night and started eating again. “She is definitely on the mend,” Oberloh said.
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