New Zealand is experiencing a surge in respiratory illnesses this winter, as seasonal viruses return after being relatively absent in 2020.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Kidz First clinical director Dr Richard Matsas said his Auckland clinic had received a huge uptick in patients suffering from respiratory illnesses.
"This is not usual at all," he said.
"We’ve seen the return of the winter virus that was absent in 2020. They’ve come back with a vengeance."
Matsas said the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) usually caused 300 hospital admissions a year, although that number dropped to just two last year as the country went into lockdown due to Covid-19.
However, he said his clinic had its busiest June in recent memory and were seeing large numbers with respiratory infections.
It is not an anomoly. Starship Hospital is also seeing a record number of children this winter as a surge of respiratory illnesses hit tamariki around the country.
Matsas pointed to the easing of restrictions and the border re-opening with Australia as being likely causes.
"I think with the border reopening these viruses like to move around the globe and certainly in Australia they were having quite large spikes of this RSV virus before the borders were opened," Matsas said.
He also believed the lack of spread among the population last year meant there were more infants and babies who had never been exposed to the seasonal RSV and were therefore more likely to catch it.
"Babies who’ve never had it before are the ones who are hit the hardest," Matsas said.
"There's a larger group in the population who haven’t been exposed to it. The longer we’re not exposed to seasonal viruses, the harder it hits."
One-year-old Theodore Lacey has already had his fair share of sickness, with high temperatures and a snotty nose, on and off, since Easter.
His mother Charlotte told 1 NEWS last week it’s becoming predictable.
“At the moment we have the week of wellness where one week he is sick and the next he is well,” she said.
High fevers are a common symptom as kids fight off infections - Lacey said Theodore was often very hot.
“The last one he had, he had about five different fevers so every day it would either be during the day or nighttime he'd be super hot.”
Matsas advised parents of young children to keep a watchful eye on any changes to their breathing, feeding behaviour and how they look.
"Parents have to be looking for signs of respiratory distress. Their breathing will be faster and harder. Are they tired, listless or not demanding their feeds? If there are any of these worrying symptoms people need to seek medical attention," he said.
"People shouldn't be hesitant to see a doctor, their GP or even our emergency department if they're worried."
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