Is your baby at risk for RSV?

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a respiratory virus that infects both the lungs and nasal passages. If you flip through any baby magazine, you'll see ads discussing RSV, which can make a new parent kind of nervous. So, how at risk is your baby? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 75,000 to 125,000 children under the age of one year, in the U.S., are hospitalized each year with RSV. However, you need to put it into perspective. RSV Facts: 

• More than 281,057,000 babies are born each year in the U.S. - that's a lot of babies who will not develop serious RSV.
• "Almost all children are infected with the virus by their second birthday, but only a small percentage develop severe disease."
• There are risk factors; simply being a baby does not put someone at risk for serious RSV complications. Risk factors include "premature infants, children less than 2 years of age with congenital heart or chronic lung disease, and children with compromised (weakened) immune systems due to a medical condition or medical treatment."

If you break it down, and look at the facts, most babies are not at risk for developing serious RSV complications. However, your baby could develop RSV, so it's best to be prepared, and follow healthy habits during the winter months. RSV is most likely to develop somewhere between November & April. In the next couple of posts we'll look at symptoms of RSV and what you can do to help prevent your baby from developing a serious case of RSV.