Jennifer McPhee
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Apr 08/02) - A recent rash of cases of respiratory syncytial virus left Baffin Regional Hospital swamped with sick babies.

Acting fire Chief Cory Chegwyn attributed an increase in medevacs and emergency calls in February to an outbreak of respiratory sickness in children throughout the Baffin region.

"It placed a strain on services," he said. "We were often running two ambulances at once."

RSV is transmitted by droplet spray. In older children and adults, it causes a common cold, but children under two can develop pneumonia or bronchiolitis.

Stricken children commonly stop eating, breathe rapidly and shallowly and have a dry, hacky cough and wheeze. In many cases, they are medevaced to a hospital.

RSV can be fatal. A vaccine-like preparation is available, but it is expensive and only administered in specific cases.

Dr. Sandy Macdonald, director of medical affairs and tele-health at the Department of Health, said asthma-inhalers work in about one third of RSV patients.

At the hospital, babies with RSV also receive oxygen.

"Sometimes, the poor little things are breathing so rapidly, they can't drink from a bottle or feed from their mother's breast," said Macdonald. "We have to give them fluids just to keep them from being dehydrated."

Occasionally, children go into respiratory collapse and are put on a respirator. Untreated, they can die.

RSV is extremely costly because many babies are medevaced to Iqaluit or Ottawa's intensive care unit for treatment.

"It's a terrible disease," said Macdonald. "It causes a lot of disruption in families' lives."

RSV is transmitted from person to person, like a cold. Doctors recommend steering young babies clear of people with colds and keeping hands washed.

Link to smoking

A recent study by Dr. Anna Banerji linked crowded living conditions and smoking with respiratory illness in children.

Banerji also found that babies with respiratory illness have another bacterial infection.

That's why she's studying more children to find out if that bacterium causes bronchiolitis. If it does, some children could be treated with a common antibiotic.

In February, the hospital did 91 tests on children with bronchiolitis. Sixty percent of them had RSV. About 40 per cent had bronchiolitis but not RSV.

"There's potential for turning up information that could improve care enormously, save families grief, and save all of us a whole lot of money," said Macdonald.