CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — As Chicago-area hospitals see more RSV cases among young children, Lurie Children's Hospital has announced that doctors may soon have a better way of knowing how severe a patient’s reaction to the respiratory virus will be.
A new Lurie study found that nasal swabs of children with the same symptoms and quantity of RSV found some had greater damage to the cells lining their noses, which correlated to them staying longer in pediatric intensive care.
The results of the study have been shared in the Journal Frontiers in Immunology.
Dr. Bria Coates, a critical care physician at Lurie Children's Hospital, said being able to identify which infants will recover quickly — and which will need longer stays — is invaluable to both parents and medical providers.
Before that happens, though, the hospital said the findings will need to be tested in a larger study.
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