Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/3rjuzSjLX9Q   If your baby had an attack of severe RSV, she or he is 2.5 times more likely to develop asthma over the next 5 years.  A Nationwide Children’s Hospital-Ohio State University study analyzed data from nearly 125,500 infants over a 16 year period.   This association between childhood RSV and asthma has been previously described, but this large study credibly confirms it.  There is a controversy about the nature of the association.  Does  more severe RSV lead to a longstanding reactive airway that is asthma or is an infant with a reactive airway tendency more likely to contract RSV.  The old chicken and egg dilemma.   Whichever is true, an infant having had RSV should be watched carefully for asthma.   Asuncion Mejias, etal. Risk of Childhood Wheeze and Asthma after Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection in Full‐Term Infants.  Pediatric Allergy and Immunology.  https://doi.org/10.1111/pai.13131   https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/relationship-between-rsv-and-a