SOUTHFIELD — As people gather together this holiday week, Dr. Steven McGraw with Ascension Providence Hospital said families should be aware that RSV cases are on the rise in Southeast Michigan.
"RSV is a real disease. I think too often we think ‘oh it’s just a crummy cold,'" said McGraw, who is the chair of emergency medicine at Ascension Southfield and Novi.
He said that as with most all respiratory illnesses, there's an uptick during holiday seasons, but RSV is particularly dangerous for older adults, those immunocompromised, and younger children, especially younger children who have not had the sickness before.
"If they look like they’re struggling to breathe, you see their abdominal muscles going in and out, you see them kind of hunching their shoulders with breaths, or if they have underlying asthma or lung disease, by all means, have them evaluated," said McGraw.
As cases are on the rise, Zahraa Faraj, a pharmacist at Oak Park RX, said vaccines are also on the rise.
"This is the first year we’ve actually seen this many RSV cases," said Faraj. "They’ll specifically walk in here and be like, ‘hey do you guys have the RSV vaccine?’ Before they never used to ask for it."
Faraj said they've had to purchase so many vaccines because of the increase in interest.
To help mitigate RSV symptoms, Faraj said she's been selling a lot of allergy medications, inhalers, and Tylenol.
McGraw emphasized Tylenol saying keeping the fever down is key.
For parents specifically, he recommends focusing on the fever, keeping your sick children away from others, and watching how much they're eating and drinking, as well as going to the bathroom.
"If you break their fever with Tylenol and they get back to playing and they can play patty cake and do all the things you see them, toddle around, rest assured, you’re doing everything right," said McGraw.
McGraw also pointed out that this time of year is when hospitals also see a spike in mental health-related illnesses.
He said that if you know anyone living alone or suffering, even a phone call from a loved one can help individuals make it through this season.
