LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Josh Lyon is a pediatrician at ‘All For Kids Pediatric Clinic’, and he said that recently they’ve been busy seeing more patients walk through their doors.
“There's honestly probably a good eight to 10 different viruses that are roaming around right now that we're seeing kids pop positive for,” said Dr. Lyon.
Dr. Lyon added that the virus they're seeing the most right now is RSV.
“We're seeing 30-35 kids a day with a good half to three-quarters of those being something like flu, RSV,” said Dr. Lyon.
The Arkansas Children’s Hospital experienced a spike in RSV cases during the late summer and early fall for the second year in a row.
“We may have kind of hit the peak of RSV, but we're seeing a lot of kids with respiratory syncytial virus infection,” said Arkansas Children's Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Rick Barr.
Dr. Barr said that there's a chance for another potential spike later down the line.
“We're preparing for that. Certainly, we could have a second spike in RSV at the normal time, which is usually January, February,” explained Dr. Barr.
When it comes to preparing for what we could see in February, Dr. Barr said that they are keeping a close eye on Australia. He added that the country had an RSV spike in the middle of their winter
Dr. Lyon will also be keeping a close eye on the situation and staying prepared— especially with certain medications that are harder to get a hold of.
“We treat those very routinely with amoxicillin. And amoxicillin is certainly in short, short supply,” said Dr. Lyon.
Arkansas Children’s Hospital is not experiencing that shortage right now, but even so, Dr. Lyon said that there are other options that can help patients.
“There's always a second route and a third route and a fourth route for us and we're not working all the way down those lines yet,” said Dr. Lyon.
With holiday gatherings around the corner, both doctors emphasized that the smallest things can make a big difference.
“Good hand hygiene for families setting the expectation around maybe no kissing on the baby this thanksgiving,” said Dr. Lyon.