41% more under-5s in A&E amid surge of respiratory bug
HOSPITALS have seen a 41 per cent jump in the number of children under the age of five attending accident and emergency departments.
This coincided with an unseasonal increase in cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) among young people, figures indicate.
Public Health Scotland (PHS) data shows that 14,012 children under the age of five went to hospital over a four-week period leading up to September 26.
That compares with a pre-pandemic average of just under 10,000 for the same dates in both 2018 and 2019.
While the number of A&E attendances for under-fives was 41 per cent higher during September, attendance levels in every other age group were in line with, or below, average.
The PHS data also shows 5,605 children under five were admitted to hospital last month – up by 1,090 on the same period in 2018 and 2019. RSV, a common virus which normally occurs in winter, causes mild, cold-like symptoms in most people.
But in young children it can lead to bronchiolitis – inflammation of the lungs – which makes it difficult to breathe.
A respiratory surveillance report by PHS noted rates of RSV were ‘high’, with 305 cases confirmed by laboratory testing in the week beginning September 27. The study, published on Wednesday, said: ‘The large majority of RSV detections thus far have been in those aged under five years.
‘The typical RSV season usually peaks between week 49 and week 52. However, in 2020/21, week-onweek increases in laboratory-confirmed diagnoses for RSV have been reported since week 23 [beginning June 7] 2021.’
PHS also noted that recent weeks had seen increases in laboratory confirmed diagnoses of a number of other respiratory illnesses, including rhinovirus, which is one of the viruses known to cause the common cold.
Earlier this year, Public Health England predicted there would be a
‘Incredibly difficult winter’
rise in RSV across the UK during autumn and winter, particularly among children under three, as Covid restrictions were lifted.
Symptoms of the illness include a high temperature of 37.8C or above, a dry and persistent cough, difficulty feeding, and rapid or noisy breathing.
Most children naturally acquire RSV before the age of two, but lockdowns and social distancing rules have eroded immunity and created the perfect conditions for the virus to rebound.
It comes as Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said the NHS in Scotland faces an ‘incredibly, incredibly difficult winter’ despite a £300million funding boost.
Mr Yousaf told Holyrood’s Covid recovery committee this week that low immunity to flu among the public, in addition to potential Covid pressures, could cause severe problems. He said: ‘My winter plan made significant ambitions and recruitment.
‘But I have to be upfront with public. These measures will help to mitigate some of the challenges, but we’re still in for an incredibly, incredibly difficult winter.
‘Clinicians tell me that their real concern is not just the Covid pressures – but we hope to make a significant dent into those as we’re controlling transmission – but the flu and other respiratory viruses because our immunity, we suspect, is quite low.
‘Last year, of course, the flu wasn’t circulating as much due to the lockdown and restrictive measures we were under.’