NHS issues vaccination warning for pregnant women over dangerous virus currently surging in Australia
Waiting mothers and people over the age of 75 are required to be vaccinated against a potentially fatal virus after a record number of cases in Australia.
Health chiefs, Australia’s winter usually predicts how viruses will spread in the UK, and this year, respiratory synonymous virus (RSV) cases are constantly increasing in many areas.
The virus, a common cause of cough and colds, can also cause a breast infection called bronchiolitis.
Some people have a high risk of being seriously ill, including infants and adults over 75 years of age.
According to NHS England, RSV is a leading cause of world -class infant deaths and the main reason for the hospitalization of children.
Last winter, approximately 7,000 beds in the UK was taken by RSV children.
NHS England encourages pregnant women to buy a Jab that protects against RSV, thus being protected after birth.
NHS Kate Brintworth, the British Midwife Officer, said: “For most adults, RSV only causes light, cold -like symptoms, while elderly adults and young children can cause serious respiratory problems in hospitalization.
“Being vaccinated while pregnant is the best way to protect your baby from the moment they are born, and now it is time for mothers to take action, in front of their babies in front of the first few months of this winter, when there is more insect circulation.”
Yusra Osman says his son Zakariya developed bronchiolitis from the virus at the age of three months. He had a fire and was breathless.
The 34 -year -old boy from North London said: “Everything was a blur, but I remember that his chest was in and out of his breath and really struggling to capture his breath.”
The nurses found that their son’s oxygen levels were dangerously low.
Ms. Osman, a student midwife, said, “This was one of the things you didn’t want to hear as a mother. He was crying and tried to put an oxygen mask, but he was fighting to remove it and did not want to touch it.”
Zakariya, who is currently seven years old, needed oxygen and a feed tube in the hospital.
“This is the worst nightmare of a mother. If there were RSV vaccine, I would definitely have it, Ms Mrs. Osman said.
The RSV vaccine was offered to pregnant women in the UK for the first time last September, and health officials said that since then it has helped to protect more than 300,000 mothers and babies.
Pregnant mothers from 28 weeks are suitable like adults aged 75-79 years.
In the coming weeks, NHS UK will invite more than one million people to make Jab for infections that started in October.
British Health Safety Agency Advisor Midwife Greta Hayward, in the end of summer or autumn babies born in the virus is likely to be taken to hospital, he said.
“Hundreds of babies participate in the emergency departments for bronchiolite every day in November and December,” he said.
