Among 45 pediatric COVID-19 patients at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, at least 25 also have respiratory syncytial virus, the Houston Chronicle reported Aug. 11.
James Versalovic, MD, interim pediatrician-in-chief at the hospital, said clinicians have identified "25 cases and counting" of kids coinfected with both COVID-19 and RSV across three of Texas Children's campuses. More than half of the children with both illnesses have been hospitalized.
About half of the hospital's coinfected patients are infants, and most are children under 5, according to the Houston Chronicle.
"The delta variant is spreading like wildfire among children and adolescents in our region," Dr. Versalovic told the news outlet, adding that the hospital has seen thousands of COVID-19 patients who have not required in-patient treatment. At the same time, children under the age of 12 are not yet elibigle to recieve the COVID-19 vaccine.
Texas Children's has also recently identified its first case of the delta plus variant, which spreads more easily than the original delta strain.
While RSV typically peaks in the fall, cases remained low throughout the fall of 2020 and early winter, likely due to widespread COVID-19 pandemic safety measures. Since March, physicians across the U.S. have been seeing an unseasonable spike in RSV, the flu-like illness that most often affects infants and older adults.
Dr. Versalovic told the news outlet that the hospital has not reached capacity, but is postponing some non-emergency surgeries to accomodate more COVID-19 patients.