Your baby’s coldlike symptoms could be RSV, an often overlooked — and sometimes deadly — infection
RSV is not a new problem. It was recognized in the late 1950s and may have received more attention recently because infections with many of the other germs that cause lower respiratory tract infections can be prevented or treated. Swift in-office tests now allow doctors to distinguish RSV from bacterial infections and thus avoid the overuse of antibiotics. They also enable doctors to give parents specific advice about what to watch for and how the disease might progress, said Ruth Karron, a pediatrician and professor in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.