Most common contagious respiratory sicknesses on the rise this fall

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Fall is coming soon, and with it comes an increase in illnesses like the flu and RSV.

RSV and the flu are both contagious respiratory sicknesses and both of them are most commonly found in the late fall and winter. The flu is a contagious viral infection that is common in all ages.

Nurse Practitioner Chris Diaz at Pediatric Services of Springfield told 22News, “What separates the flu from some of your other common colds viruses is that it is usually going to come with a little bit of a higher fever. We usually see the kids very tired, very drained, it really takes a lot out of them.”

Symptoms include fever, chills, cough, sore throat, runny and stuffy nose, and muscle aches.

Nurse Practioner Chris Diaz said prevention is key, “a lot of hand washing, making sure that if we are sick, we are staying home and that we are not getting around people, especially who are a little more immunocompromised.”

While also getting the flu vaccine won’t prevent you from getting it, it can lessen the severity. Diaz mentioned that with the flu, it will generally peak between days 3 and 5 and then the kids will start to feel better, whereas, RSV will last weeks and possibly months.

“There are over 50,000 hospitalizations a year in the US due to RSV,” said Pediatrician John O’Reilly at Baystate High Street Clinic.

RSV mainly impacts two groups of people, very young babies and adults part of the older generations. For babies, it mostly effects them in their first 6-8 months of life when their airways are narrow.

“What happens is they get clogged. So the airways, much like how your nose will swell and get full of mucus and you have difficulty breathing through your nose when you have a bad cold, well that is what is happening in the lower respiratory tract of infants.”

A vaccine for RSV was released last year. Dr. O’Reilly said expecting mothers in their last trimester can get a vaccine to help their baby before they are born.

“The mother created anti-bodies which then passively go over to their baby, so when their babies are born, their immune system is already primed and ready to knock out that RSV virus.”

Pediatric Services of Springfield have a office nasal swab test for both the flu and RSV that takes about 15 minutes, but they recommend parents wait 24 hours because they usually get a lot of false negatives in early testing.

Local News Headlines

Connecticut building at Big E received first major interior makeover in 30 years

Chicopee Comprehensive High school class of 1974 celebrates 50th year anniversary

Free updated Covid-19 vaccines given out by Springfield Pharmacy to help slow the spread

Traffic restrictions in place for Big E this weekend

WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WWLP.