Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection Rated 100% Correct!!

Introduction - Most common childhood respiratory disease in newborns and young children. Annual community-wide outbreaks lasting four to six months are common during late fall, winter, and early spring. Signs and Symptoms - About four to six days (incubation period) following infection, triggers fever, rhinorrhea (runny nose), cynosis (blue cast to skin), coughing, and sometimes wheezing in babies and the immunocompromised. Leading cause of bronchiolitis (inflammation of the bronchioles) and pneumonia among children less than one year of age and the leading respiratory killer of infants worldwide. Infections in older children and adults with normal immune systems results in coldlike symptoms. Some children develop tracheobronchitis, known commonly as croup, which inflammation of the trachea and bronchi, resulting in breathing difficulty accompanied by a barking cough. Pathogen - "Pneumovirus" Enveloped, helical, -ssRNA virus. Relatively unstable outside the body, surviving only about five hours in the environment or two hours on skin or used facial tissues. Soap and water as well as disinfectants deactivate RSV. Pathogenesis - Virus causes syncytia to form in the lungs.Syncytium is a giant, multinucleated cell formed from the fusion of virally infected cells to neighboring cells. Plugs of mucus, fibrin, and dead cells in the bronchioles make it difficult to breathe. The action of cytotoxic T cells and other specific immune responses further damage the lungs. Virulence Factor: (G protein) attaches to and enters human cells; intracellular replication cycle evades immune system; virus causes infected cells to fuse with their neighbors, so virus spreads without entering blood. Epidemiology - Spreads easily during close contact with infected persons, such as through kissing, touching, and shaking hands, and via contact with recently contaminated fomites. Spread via respiratory droplets is less frequent. Immunocompromised older patients and babies, especially those who are premature, immune impaired, exposed to tobacco smoke, who attend day care, or who have older school-aged siblings, are most at risk. Prevalent in the US; epidemiological studies reveal that about 98% of children in day care centers are infected by age three. Up to 125,000 of these children require hospitalization each year, and 2000 die. Additionally, it kills about 14,000 elderly patients annually. Diagnosis - Essential, if infected infants are to get the care they need