Measles and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) outbreaks combined to force pediatric units in the United States into critical status as health officials warn ahead of holiday gatherings.

Washington state hospitals are already seeing the effects of RSV outbreaks as emergency departments are starting to exceed 100% capacity in many medical institutions. For many healthy individuals, RSV is a cold-like nuisance.

Measles, RSV Outbreaks

However, for young people, the elderly, and people with certain health conditions, the virus can pose a serious life risk, even causing death in some instances. RSV can infect a person and reside deep in the lungs, causing pneumonia. In babies, the virus can impede breathing by inflaming their tiny airways.

A mother, Alisa Peterson, said that she got a first-hand look at the negative effects of RSV on younger people after her nephew contracted the virus. She said that the child was sick for several months and with no specific treatment for RSV infections, they only hoped for the best, as per KomoNews.

Peterson noted that there was not a lot that she or her family could do for her nephew, noting that health experts tried to help the child fight the virus by giving him supplements.

Health officials affiliated with Mary Bridge Children's Hospital noted that patients were still forced to wait for hours to get seen with one of the longest wait times earlier this week, peaking at 12 hours on Wednesday when they saw over 220 patients.

According to CNN, the situation comes as a measles outbreak in Columbus, Ohio, caused dozens of unvaccinated children to be sick, with nine being hospitalized. Local public health officials are now seeking assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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Public Health Issues

On Thursday, the health agency confirmed that it was aware of the cases and was working on deploying a small team to the state in order to assist on the ground with investigating the situation. CDC Spokesperson Kristen Nordlund said that state and local health authorities were notifying potentially exposed residents to make sure that they were vaccinated.

She added that officials were also helping any community members who may have been exposed to the virus to understand the signs and symptoms of measles infection. The spokesperson added that any individual who was exposed to the disease should follow up with their healthcare provider.

The measles outbreak was first reported last week, and at the time, there were only four confirmed cases were identified in one child-care facility. That institution temporarily closed, but the number of cases and facilities involved with the infection has since grown.

There were reports of 18 infections in young children, with the majority, 17, being under the age of five. That particular age group is known to be susceptible to serious health complications from measles, based on data from the CDC.

A spokesperson for Columbus Public Health, Kelli Newman, said that the recent outbreak is affecting seven daycares and one school in the state. She added that all of the institutions were cooperating with the investigation and had notified all parents and removed all unvaccinated students from the facilities for at least 21 days, CBS News reported.

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