‘Tridemic’ calls attention to dangerous viruses hitting children in Miami Valley, physicians say
The “tridemic” -- Covid, respiratory syncytial virus and flu circulating all at once -- has reached the Miami Valley and is affecting area children.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common cause of mild cold-like symptoms such as runny nose, cough and fever, is nothing new for Dayton Children’s Hospital, but the number of patients there is higher than normal, Dr. Adam Mezoff told News Center 7′s Molly Koweek.
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“At this time of year, these volumes are unusual,” he said. The chief medical officer at Dayton Children’s said RSV usually peaks in January or February.
“Kids who get this infection often have difficulty breathing,” he said. “They can sound like they have asthma, they can wheeze, and the more they struggle with breathing, the more they need to come see us.”
Meanwhile, the most recent data from the Ohio Department of Health shows a 15-percent increase in flu-like illnesses.
“Here in Ohio, we are not yet seeing widespread disease, but it’s coming,” said Dr. Roberto Colon, chief medical officer at Miami Valley Hospital.
“We are really not seeing an above average, but we are seeing an increase,” Colon said. “certainly compared to the last two years, we are seeing a lot more, because influenza has been really a non-story for the last two years. But we are on track now with what our normal seasons would look like.”
And as he projects a more traditional flu season, Covid remains active and continues to circulate.
Recent data from the state health department show a 12-percent increase in Covid cases over the three-week average.
“It’s still an area of concern,” Colon said, " so i think the false sense that people can get is covid is done and that we just have to focus on flu or RSV, and that’s at all not the case.”
The “tridemic” could keep area physicians busy in trying to manage the three viruses.
Colon said the term calls attention to the fact that there are three dangerous viruses circulating at once, “so that’s really the more important thing, rather than this is some ominous, new epidemic that is going to be arising. It’s just the fact that we have these three disease moving upward with trajectories.”
Said Mezoff: “For the last two to three years, we have had curveball after curve ball with the different facets of the pandemic and all these other things.”
Colon went so far as to suggest that if patient counts for the three viruses reach critical numbers, people may need to go back to wearing masks.
