Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) in Georgia

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is an important cause of respiratory infections throughout life. RSV is the major cause of pneumonia and bronchiolitis among infants and young children. Almost all children will be infected by the age of 2 years. Symptoms vary with age. Infants younger than 6 months of age, and especially premature infants (born before 37 weeks gestation, or at least one month early), generally have the most severe symptoms and often require hospitalization. Premature infants with RSV may be irritable, drowsy, or feed poorly, but some may also stop breathing. Fever, wheezing, and cough are common symptoms in toddlers. Re-infection can occur throughout life, but in older children and healthy adults, cold symptoms are more typical.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Surveillance in Georgia

Seasonal epidemics of RSV occur yearly in Georgia and other temperate areas. RSV disease is expected during the fall and winter months. The Georgia Department of Public Health tracks RSV disease through laboratory reporting to the National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS). In this system, each week, participating medical laboratories statewide report the number of RSV tests performed and the number of positive tests, providing useful information for RSV prevention.

In order to be consistent with the CDC, DPH has modified the RSV surveillance definition to reflect changes made to the calculation of RSV season onset and end. RSV season onset is now defined as the first week of two (2) consecutive weeks when the mean percent positive of ALL lab confirmed tests are greater than or equal to 10%. The end of RSV season is now defined as the first week of two consecutive weeks when the mean percent positive of ALL lab confirmed tests are less than 10%.