SAN ANTONIO — Right now across Bexar County a huge uptick in RSV cases is among young children.
With RSV, the flu, and COVID all flying around, getting your child medical care as soon as possible if they become sick is of the utmost importance.
"She started showing symptoms midweek with just a cough. It was a little kind of wet hacky cough and like, okay, you know, we'll just kind of watch it," said Lori Tapia who is talking about her now five-month-old daughter Ariella.
Tapia is also Registered Nurse and a Director of Primary Care Services at University Health. Just a few days later her daughter's condition deteriorated and they ended up in Urgent Care, and eventually the ER.
She told us, "Within about an hour and a half of me being in the ER, they said, Yeah, we're going to admit her. But they put her on oxygen, started her an I.V."
Symptoms of RSV include a runny nose, decrease in appetite, coughing and sneezing, a fever, and also wheezing. Tapia added, "I'm an ex-ICU nurse, so I'm used to seeing that on other patients. But it's always different when it's your kid."
Little Ariella was in the hospital for a week, and even ended up in the ICU.
Tapia said, "They just needed that constant monitoring because she was unstable at that point and they had classified her under respiratory failure."
Ariella is recovered and back to her healthy, happy self. And Tapia has this advice for parents whose child gets sick.
She said, "I would just say if you're on the fence, it's not going to hurt to go get them seen because your doctor will always tell you whether or not they need to progress with treatment or care or if they're okay to go home.
University Health reminds those to stay as healthy as possible by getting your bivalent COVID booster. Also getting your flu shot. Practicing frequent handwashing. Do your best to social distance. And avoiding crowds or mask if you are in crowds.