If you hear a "squeak" when you're breathing, you're suspicious...an infectious disease that has 'exploded' inpatients of infants and toddlers

ⓒYonhap News Agency

The number of patients hospitalized for respiratory syncytial virus infection (RSV), an acute respiratory infection, has been on the rise, especially in infants and toddlers over the past four weeks.

The quarantine authorities urged them to follow personal hygiene rules and pay attention to the progression of pneumonia.

According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 631 hospitalized patients with RSV infection in Korea have occurred in the past four weeks (October 27 to November 23).

Among them, 547 infants (0-6 years old) accounted for 86.7%.

Specifically, 374 people (59.3%) aged 1-6 years, 173 people (27.4%) aged 0 years, 31 people (4.9%) aged 7-12 years, and 30 people (4.8%) aged 65 or older.

RSV infection is an acute respiratory infectious disease that is prevalent mainly between October and March of the following year, and is spread through respiratory droplets or contacts of infected people.

The main symptoms start with a runny nose and pharyngitis in infants, followed by coughing and wheezing symptoms 1 to 3 days later.

In general, it recovers naturally, but it can cause lower respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia in some infants and young children and immunocompromised people, so early treatment and appropriate treatment are important.

Reporter Park Sun-young of Digital News Team