Have you noticed every child around you is getting sick? Well with the flu season nearing, Carrie Bickmore reaches out to an old friend, Dr Vyom Sharma, broadcaster and commentator on health, medicine and current affairs, to answer her constantly arising question:
“Every Kid I Know In The Last Few Weeks Has Been Sick.. What Is Going On?”
Without hesitation, Dr Sharma confirms Carrie’s beliefs by assuring her that there is something in the air at the moment, describing it as a “super virus” that has been circulating all over Australia, even narrowing it down to walking pneumonia – a less serious form of the lung infection pneumonia that even the National Drive Show hosts had heard of:
“I’ve heard about this walking pneumonia.. what is walking pneumonia?”
Although this bug has been around for a while, Dr Sharma informs the hosts that this form of pneumonia arises every four years or so, and can last for up to 4-6 weeks.
Defining the illness, Dr Sharma shares: “The reason it’s called walking pneumonia, is that it typically effects young healthy people” and that typically it’ll be a cough that lingers for longer than most respiratory symptoms will last for.
To hear the two most common theories as to why we’ve seen a spike in our children getting sick, hear the Carrie & Tommy Show’s chat with Dr Vyom Sharma below:
Recent statistics show that RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) has doubled in the last year, a virus that every human would have had by the time of their second birthday. The thing that is most notable about RSV is that “this is something that is preferentially far worse in kids”.
To hear more from Dr. Vyom Sharma, you can follow him through his website at https://www.vyomsharma.com.au, or alternatively, add him through Instagram: