As the world is presently experiencing a steep decline in the daily coronavirus cases, many states have already started the unlock down process. However, experts have warned that with the onset of these ease in restricts around the globe, there can be a resurgence of a childhood respiratory virus. According to the reports, cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) have risen sharply in Australia and, more recently, in the US as pandemic public health measures have been relaxed.

RSV affects the lower respiratory tract and can cause serious illness and death. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, about 2.7 million children worldwide were infected with RSV each year, and it was the fourth most common cause of death in young children. “The off-season resurgence in seasonal respiratory viruses now potentially poses a threat to vulnerable infants,” said Dr. Pascal Lavoie, BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Canada, like other countries, has seen very few cases of RSV, with only 239 positive cases between August 29, 2020, and May 8, 2021, compared with 18,860 positive tests in a similar period the previous year (between August 25, 2019, and May 2, 2020). The virus seemed to disappear over the last year. However, an increased number of cases of RSV in Canada this summer, as in other jurisdictions, could stretch healthcare resources in pediatric intensive care units (ICUs).

While the levels of influenza and other nonCovid respiratory viruses were at historic lows during most of 2020 in the US, the virus causing common cold is having an out-of-season resurgence in 2021, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

How new Atlas charts antibodies attack spike protein of Covid variants

USCDC highlights Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine benefits 'far outweigh' risks

Covid Survey Shows: Two-thirds of Indians have Covid antibodies