Ep 111 RSV: What’s syncytial anyway?

This Podcast Will Kill You

Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts

Health & Fitness, Science

4.8 • 17.7K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2023

⏱️ 93 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We’re kicking off our sixth season in the same way we ended our fifth: with another headline-making respiratory virus. But as our listeners know, not all respiratory viruses are the same, and it’s often those differences among them that play the biggest role in their spread or the symptoms they cause. This episode, we’re exploring the virus that everyone has been talking about lately. No, not that one. Or that one. The other one. Yes, we’re talking about respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. For many people, the recent surge in RSV infections that dominated headlines this winter may have been the first time they had heard of this viral infection or realized how deadly it could be. But for others, RSV has long inspired fear and dread. In this episode, we Erins explain why this virus deserves such notoriety, how long we’ve recognized the dangers of infection, and what hope the future may hold for novel RSV treatments or vaccines. If at any point you’ve wondered what all the fuss is about this virus or how to pronounce syncytial, then this is the episode for you!

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is exactly right.
0:06.5	In October 2019, our family doubled in number from 3 to 6 when our triplets were born
0:12.8	at 35 weeks gestation.
0:15.5	We already had our two and a half year old daughter Annie and then we had Isabelle, Lenny
0:20.5	and Teddy.
0:21.5	The weights ranged from £4.2 to £4.7 at birth.
0:26.3	They were small but everyone agreed they were good sizes for triplets.
0:31.1	Because they were born early, they needed some help with breathing and maintaining their
0:35.0	own temperatures, but all were discharged from NICU two weeks later.
0:40.3	We had a lot of visits from community nurses to check on their health.
0:44.6	They checked the weight and for any signs of infection.
0:47.9	I was told a number of times to watch out for a virus called RSV as it was a risk
0:53.1	this time of year, especially for very young babies and especially for those with a sibling
0:58.8	who was attending nursery or school.
1:01.6	I understood that we tipped a few of these risk boxes but I wasn't concerned.
1:06.5	I thought it would be okay.
1:08.5	When Lenny was 5 weeks old and not yet the weight of most newborn babies, he seemed
1:13.8	more sniffly than usual.
1:15.9	He was drinking his milk more slowly and he had been sick a couple of times.
1:21.4	I thought he had a cold.
1:23.1	I thought he would get better in a few days.
1:26.1	One morning we woke up and I went through the usual morning routine.
	...

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