Folks at Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines are encouraging the use of medication that helps keep kids from getting a severe respiratory viral infection again. Debbie Tell, a registered nurse who’s the pediatric care manager at the hospital, is recommending shots of a medication called “Synagis” to treat R-S-V, a virus that’s the most frequent cause of respiratory-tract infections in babies and young children.Tell says if a kid was in the hospital last year with a severe respiratory virus, she recommends taking the Synagis shots, once a month, from October through April. Tell says they may get another virus, but it won’t be severe enough to send ’em back into the hospital.Tell says it’s extremely important for kids to get the shots to keep another severe virus at bay — especially for infants.Tell says kids who repeatedly get serious respiratory infections can develop asthma, and are more likely to have the virus turn into pneumonia.
