Norton Health Care officials are spreading the word to parents about a dangerous respiratory virus that's spreading among young children.
The illness is called RSV ( respiratory syncytial virus ) and it’s an infection of the lungs that can land babies and toddlers in the hospital or on the other end of a breathing machine.
Norton says the number of kids with RSV is much higher than usual and they've already had had 30 hospitalizations. The illness typically lasts five-seven days. It's spread through coughing and sneezing, as well as through saliva and nasal drainage.
At this time in 2018, local doctors had around 60 cases but in 2019 that number is already at 200.
The Centers for Disease Control reports that 60 percent of the country is already seeing flu activity which is unusually high for this time of the year.
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