November 17, 2023 – A brand new drug that may help infants avoid hospitalization as a result of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is briefly supply as a result of an increase in cases of the disease in some parts of the country.
The CDC announced Thursday that an extra 770,000 doses of a monoclonal antibody treatment that could be given to babies shortly after birth will probably be sent to doctors' offices and hospitals. The drug is sold under the brand name Beyfortus and might reduce the chance of significant complications from RSV by as much as 75%, the FDA said in its July issue permit Notice.
The preventive treatment is taken into account a breakthrough because RSV hospitalizes between 1 and three% of babies under one yr old every year. Most children are infected with RSV by the age of two.
Usually symptoms are mild, akin to a runny nose and fatigue. But for some, the virus can result in pneumonia or bronchiolitis, a dangerous lung disease that causes wheezing and makes respiratory difficult, the CDC says.
In severe cases, babies may should be hospitalized to receive supplemental oxygen and fluids as a result of dehydration. Sometimes they also have a respiratory tube inserted or are given help respiratory with a so-called mechanical ventilator.
The announcement of additional doses of Beyfortus comes as some areas report overwhelming rates of RSV. In Texas, Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth Posted recently on Facebook that individuals face long waits within the emergency room as lots of of individuals seek help there daily, and the RSV positivity rate reached 33%.
“Many infants suffer from severe RSV, and hospitals are struggling to find beds for everyone,” one comment said Notice by Cook Children's, which was published in Spanish.
A spike in RSV cases led to a spike in RSV cases in central North Carolina Kegel Health The system is beginning to require masks in one among its hospitals and likewise at a medical center and banning children under 12 from visiting vulnerable areas akin to maternity wards and neonatal intensive care units.
There have been greater than 6,800 positive RSV cases statewide reported to the CDC the week of November eleventh. The rate of RSV tests coming back positive in children and adults combined has nearly doubled during the last month. Babies younger than 1 yr are most definitely Visit emergency rooms for RSV, in response to CDC data for the week of November eleventh.
But RSV rates are still well below numbers this time last yr, when a record-breaking early wave of the virus overwhelmed hospital children's wards. This fall, health officials expressed hope that this may very well be the mildest RSV season ever as a result of the approval of Beyfortus and a brand new vaccine given to pregnant women who then pass on the RSV protection to their unborn children.
The CDC said it had asked doctors to encourage pregnant patients to get vaccinated in order that babies could be protected at birth quite than counting on Beyfortus. Beyfortus is approved for babies up to at least one yr old and for some children as much as two years old who’re at high risk of severe RSV.