1. What are the symptoms of RS virus?
In most cases, children develop common cold complaints with the RS virus, explains RIVM spokesman Harald Wychgel. “Then it mainly concerns a common cold and cough. Some children also get a fever or earache.”
Usually, the RS virus is indistinguishable from a normal cold. You cannot test yourself whether it concerns RS, this is only done in the hospital in children who react badly to the virus.
2. How dangerous is the RS virus?
Every child becomes infected with the RS virus at some point. “Most children have had it by the age of three. Infection is actually unavoidable. In general, children are better after about three to seven days.”
However, in some cases the disease is less mild. “If you get the RS virus at a baby or toddler age, it can sometimes take on a more serious form. Babies can become short of breath and inflammation of the airways can occur. And even pneumonia.”
3. When should I call the doctor?
Parents may now be a little more concerned if their child has a bad cold. When is it time to call the doctor? “Always tricky to answer this question,” says Wychgel.
“But: doctors themselves say that it is wise to call if a child becomes short of breath, does not breathe for a few seconds or drinks poorly all day. There is also a lot of information about this on the reliable website Thuisarts.nl.”
You can recognize shortness of breath in a baby, for example, according to Wychgel by ‘a wheezing – or rapid breathing’. “Or the nostrils that move with breathing. With severe tightness, the skin at the ribs pulls in.”
That sounds pretty intense, with such a little one. But Wychgel is keen to emphasize, “Most kids get better relatively quickly.”
4. What can I do against the RS virus myself?
As annoying as it sounds, the answer to this question is simple: give a paracetamol suppository to your child and wait. Apart from wiping your child’s snot bubbles regularly, there’s not much else you can do. “You just have to keep a close eye on it.”
Although everyone gets the RS virus, you can still do something preventative. We remember it from corona: “Wash your hands a lot, cough and sneeze into your arm and shake less hands and touch your face. Because contact avoidance is almost impossible to achieve.”
5. Can I also get the RS virus as an adult, and is it dangerous?
Yes you can get it. But probably not in such a violent form. “You can get infected again every year, even if you already had it as a child. You just get a respiratory infection.”
But it won’t happen very often that a parent infects a child. Wychgel: “It is usually the children who have it first.”
The elderly are the exception: “If you are more vulnerable, for example due to other underlying suffering, you are more at risk. The same applies to adults with underlying heart or lung conditions.”
6. Can you get vaccinated against the RS virus?
Children with an increased risk of a serious RS infection can receive a vaccine containing antibodies. “This only happens in exceptional cases in the hospital, on the indication of a paediatrician, for example.”
No RS vaccination is included in the National Immunization Programme. That is not yet possible, because such a vaccine with a preventive effect is still being developed.
Such a vaccine is close at hand. Last November, a first vaccine was approved by the European Union. And a vaccination study is underway in pregnant women. The mother then receives an injection during her pregnancy to protect the baby after birth. This is now also happening, for example, with a vaccination against whooping cough, at 22 weeks of pregnancy.