In the last week, the number of confirmed RS cases has increased by 40 percent, according to the public health authority, and a large majority of those affected are babies. RS is a virus that often causes mild cold symptoms but can also cause very severe illness, especially in newborns.
This year’s RS curve points straight up, from week 40 when the infection started. It can be compared to a normal year, for example 2019, when the infection did not start until several weeks later.
At the same time, the usual flu is raging and the Swedish covid cases continue to increase.
In the USA, this is referred to as a “Tridemic” this winter – when the flu, covid-19 and the RS virus strike at the same time. “Tridemic risks overloading the healthcare system,” writes the American news channel PBS NewsHour.
The virologist: Covid-19 the worst
Virologist Niklas Arnberg mainly thinks that it is the coronavirus that you should watch out for, as that infection is the one that you know the least about.
– I fear that it is covid that will haunt communities the most this winter as well, he says.
The virologist also says that when it comes to the RS virus, researchers are getting close to a vaccine.
– There are many different pharmaceutical companies that are working hard on this and have come a long way with their development of the RS virus. Exactly when it can be approved is very difficult to say, but hopefully within one, two, three years, says Niklas Arnberg.