Deadly virus warning
A DEADLY virus in Australia is evolving between each outbreak, and could return to Geelong once again putting infants’ lives as risk.
The parechovirus hospitalised 17 babies in Geelong in 2015, and has been resurfacing in Australia every two years.
Five years ago, Larissa Young experienced every parent’s worst nightmare as her baby Max was fighting for his life, and no one knew what was wrong.
“He was having cramps and I felt like something was really wrong,” Ms Young said.
“I just knew in my gut something was just not right, so I brought him to the doctor.”
Little Max McKee-Young had a heart rate of 180 and a temp of 40C, and the doctors told the worried mother he “wasn’t going anywhere”.
“On the afternoon of day three my mum was holding him and the nurse was on her break, and all of a sudden, he went blue and his arms flopped to the side,” Ms Young said.
Max had stopped breathing for 83 seconds while surrounded by more than 20 doctors who were trying to help.
“In those 83 seconds of him not breathing I had gone through his whole service in my head, I had picked a baby coffin and planned the whole thing,” Ms Young said.
After the doctors helped the little boy he was rushed by ambulance to Monash Hospital in Melbourne.
“He got better again and we were sent home with him but still at that point, eight days in, we didn’t know what was happening,” she said.
A few days later Ms Young
Barwon Health Paediatrician Professor Pete Vuillermin said the virus was evolving like the flu and local paediatricians were on the lookout for new cases.
“It’s reasonably likely the parechovirus could return to Geelong, as it seems to have a cyclical pattern in impacted areas every three years or so,” Professor Vuillermin said.
The virus is causing sepsislike illness and meningitis in infants under three months, and prominent symptoms include fever, irritability and rash. Prof Vuillermin said in most cases the children were only mildly affected but a small group become very sick from the virus.
He said GCEID, the partnership between Barwon Health, CSIRO and Deakin University, was looking at the possibility of creating a vaccine.