GREENSBORO, N.C. — "When you think of RSV, what is one word that comes to your mind," WFMY News 2 Reporter Stacey Spivey asked Avery Bernstein, Triad mom.
"Fear," Bernstein replied.
As a new mom, it was Avery Bernstein's worst nightmare to see her 6-month-old baby in the hospital and barely able to breathe.
"It comes on very quickly and it can go south even quicker," Bernstein said.
The diagnosis was Respiratory Syncytial Virus or RSV. A few years later he got the same diagnosis, and for mom, it was the same worry.
However, this time around the entire family caught it.
"The hard part is to be able to step back and be able to hand your baby over," Bernstein said.
Dr. Kaye Gable is a pediatrician at Moses Cone Hospital. She said for most people, RSV is just a cold, but for babies it causes inflammation in their lower airways and makes it extremely difficult to breathe.
"Most children that are hospitalized with RSV are under a year, with a majority being under six months. With the ones the most seriously ill being thirty to sixty days," Dr. Gable said.
There is no cure for RSV, but is treatable with oxygen and fluids. It is also preventable.
Dr. Gable recommends to always wash your hands and cover your cough because RSV is spread through contact and coughing.
Of course, don't kiss the babies!
It's a reminder that Bernstein hopes people will listen to because not every baby wins the battle against RSV.
WFMY reached out to the Health Department to see how many cases have been reported, and we learned RSV is not reported in the state.
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