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(NEXSTAR) – As the U.S. continues to see high levels of three viral infections – COVID-19, influenza, and RSV – there’s growing concern over a bacteria that can cause serious illness, especially in children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it’s tracking a “possible increase in invasive group A strep” among children. At least 94 people in the United Kingdom, including 24 children, have died from complications caused by a strep A infection. “To my knowledge, we’ve never seen a peak like this at this time of year, at least not for decades,” microbiologist Shiranee Sriskandan at Imperial...

The HSE’s Chief Operations Officer has warned that Ireland is dealing with a “triple wave of viruses” as new advice is issued to the public. Listing the issues at hand, Damien McCallion said that there are 600 people are in the hospital with COVID, 300 patients have the flu and 250 children are in hospital with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he described the situations as a “unique position that we have never had before”. He went on to say that having all three illnesses spiking at the same time means the healthcare system is under...

CDC said that increases in Strep A, flu and RSV cases are tied to lockdowns ... Leading US health officials have finally acknowledged that pandemic restrictions they supported may have fueled a boom in respiratory bugs currently overwhelming hospitals. Healthcare systems across the country have been pushed to the brink after an unseasonably high number of flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases with some pediatric units forced to erect inflatable tents to treat patients in parking lots. ... In a statement to DailyMail.com, the CDC said it was 'hearing from some doctors and state health departments about an apparent...

The White House is warning of a surge of illness this holiday season, as the country deals with the simultaneous uptick of three, highly contagious respiratory viruses. Hospitals across the country are filling up with patients suffering from flu, RSV and COVID. William Brangham reports.

Masks are back, and, this time, they’re not just for Covid-19. A “tripledemic” of the coronavirus, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, known as R.S.V., sweeping through the United States has prompted several cities and counties, including New York City and Los Angeles County, to encourage people to wear a mask in indoor public spaces once again...... There is strong evidence that masks help to reduce the transmission of several respiratory viruses. One paper published in 2020 by researchers in Hong Kong showed that people sick with either Covid-19 or the flu breathed out fewer viral particles when they were wearing...

(NewsNation) — Concerns are growing nationwide for rapidly increasing cases of what health officials have deemed a tripledemic: the flu, RSV and COVID-19, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is once again urging the public to wear face masks indoors. According to the agency’s Dec. 8 report, 13.7 percent of Americans now live in communities now rated “high” COVID-19 Community Levels, up from 4.9 percent of the population last week. An additional 38.1 percent of Americans are in “medium” areas and 48.2 percent are in “low” areas. A number of major cities are now mulling a return to...

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), warned of extremely high levels of respiratory illness in the U.S. on Monday, particularly flu hospitalizations, and made another call for people to stay up to date on their vaccinations. In a briefing, Walensky said the U.S. is seeing elevated levels of COVID-19, the flu and RSV. The CDC director noted higher levels of the latter two viruses compared to last year. “Levels of flu-like illness, which includes people going to doctors with a fever and a cough or sore throat, are either high or very high level...

By all accounts, the risk of another winter surge of COVID-19 in the U.S. is high. And this time coronavirus is on the prowl alongside two pals — influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). In some areas, hospitals are already overwhelmed. Just how severe this “tripledemic” is going to be is unclear. But what is very clear is that a pandemic-weary public isn’t taking the threat seriously enough. Shockingly, neither is government. Biden administration officials have expressed concerns for months, but there’s been no loud alarm bells, so far. That includes at a White House briefing on Tuesday where officials...

America is running short on four key antibiotics and respiratory drugs for children, as seasonal bugs come back with a bang after being suppressed during lockdowns. Health officials have declared a shortage of amoxicillin, a vital antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections such as pneumonia, respiratory infections and strep throat. But doctors on the ground are also reporting dwindling stocks of Augmentin - a antibiotic drug that uses amoxicillin alongside clavulanic acid - Tamiflu, the most commonly used flu medication in US hospitals, and albuterol, an inhaler for asthma and to relieve other lung symptoms.

Ontario’s chief medical officer of health says the province won’t mandate masks, though he is “strongly recommending” residents to wear masks indoors amid the onset of a combination of three respiratory viruses. Dr. Kieran Moore made the comments during a press conference on Nov. 14, warning about the combined threats of COVID-19, seasonal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and influenza, which he said are contributing to an increase in the hospitalization of sick children. “In response to the worsening trends and existing challenges for our healthcare system, I’m strongly recommending that all Ontarians, not just those at high risk, wear a...

Several Southern California hospitals have begun using overflow tents outside emergency rooms to cope with a rising number of patients with flu and other respiratory illnesses. The San Diego-Union Tribune reported Friday that overflow tents were put up at Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas, Jacobs Medical Center at UC San Diego Health in La Jolla and Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa to handle an increase in respiratory illness. Scripps hospitals and doctor's offices reported 1,695 positive flu tests since Sept. 1, up from 471 during the same time period one year ago.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is being asked to provide data on how many children infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) have received a COVID-19 vaccine prior to their diagnosis, according to Aaron Siri, a lawyer representing the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN). “Our firm, on behalf of our client Informed Consent Action Network, sent the letter to the CDC asking for follow-up on this issue,” Siri wrote in an email to The Epoch Times, adding that FOIA requests have also been submitted. “If the CDC chooses not to respond to the letter, they will at least...

Researchers have witnessed two viruses – influenza A and respiratory syncytial virus – fuse together to form a single, hybrid virus. While competition between viruses has been researched in some detail, this new finding provides researchers with an unusual example of one virus coopting another for its own benefits. "This kind of hybrid virus has never been described before," virologist and senior author Pablo Murcia told The Guardian. "We are talking about viruses from two completely different families combining together with the genomes and the external proteins of both viruses. It is a new type of virus pathogen." The hybrid...

As respiratory illnesses are rapidly rising among children, President Joe Biden's top medical advisor is warning of a potential triple-threat heading into winter. "This is particularly problematic because as we get into the flu season, you might have a convergence of three significant respiratory illnesses at one time in children," said Dr. Anthony Fauci. "RSV, which you just mentioned, influenza and of course there's always the concern, as we get into the winter, about a surge of a new variant of COVID-19."

Fears of a U.S. “twindemic” are growing as the nation deals with children’s hospitals crowded with cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) just as the number of people with the flu also rise across the country. Experts have been talking about a “twindemic” in connection with a simultaneous surge in COVID-19 and flu cases. The worry was that winter waves of COVID would coincide with the regular flu season, and that the combination could pose a threat to health systems. Thankfully, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have leveled off in the United States — although that could change as temperatures drop...

Hospitals across the United States are overwhelmed with children suffering from a specific respiratory illness, according to reports. According to a report from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), data showing Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) cases spiked over the last month. Typically, RSV causes children to contract the usual mild-cold symptoms, but the impact could be far worse for those with a compromised immune system or a heart defect. ... “We are treating a very high number of severely ill children,” Sarah Combs, an emergency medicine physician at Children’s National, told The Washington Post.

<p>The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is affecting children in Colorado more than COVID-19, according to a chief medical officer of Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children.</p><p>RSV is a common respiratory virus that causes cold-like symptoms in people of all ages. Doctors say that the virus is so common that many children will have been infected with it before they are two years old.</p>

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a highly infectious virus that can lead to serious disease in children. The virus emerges each year roughly at the time school starts in the fall and subsides later in the spring. Midsummer RSV is unusual. Last year we did not see the typical rise in RSV, but this year the RSV surge started much earlier and is of much greater magnitude than normal. Our COVD-19 response has unintentionally increased children’s risk from RSV infection.Respiratory syncytial virus, named because of the unique appearance of infected cells under the microscope.Lock downs, social distancing, and masking, whether...

Well, it appears that those who promoted lockdowns rather than early outpatient treatment as the solution for COVID are once against benefiting from a phenomenon that they likely caused, now using it to falsely instill more panic about children being in danger from COVID. Isn't it too convenient? Right when schools are slated to start again, the proponents of lockdowns and masks seem to have finally gotten traction on a narrative of children filling up the hospitals with COVID — a phenomenon not seen in any other country. As Alasdair Munro, a pediatric infectious disease doctor in the U.K. observed...

Audrey Odom John, chief of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said her colleagues started referring last month to the weird influx of kids with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and parainfluenza as “Christmas in July.” Jonathan Miller, chief of primary care at Nemours duPont Hospital for Children in Delaware, said the viruses have been “really exploding,” with 127 positive RSV tests in July, the most since February 2020. That has Miller thinking ahead to the other respiratory virus that usually infects thousands in the fall and winter. “We’ve had January-type RSV in July, so what...