MONTREAL — Only half of Canadian women know that the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can cause serious infections, and only a quarter of them know that we now have an effective vaccine to combat it, reveals a survey conducted at across the country by the firm 19 TO Zero.
Even more worrying, despite all the hype surrounding RSV, only 43% of survey participants knew that it poses a more serious health threat to children under two and the elderly.
“It’s not pleasant at all to see a baby having trouble breathing,” said Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, the founder and former director of the Pediatric Ambulatory Care and Asthma Centers at the Hôpital de Montreal for children.
And since there is no treatment for RSV, he added, the hospitalized baby can only be offered supportive care, such as a respirator.
An RSV infection will present itself in children “like a major asthma attack,” explained Dr. Roumeliotis. The bronchioles, already tiny in babies, become blocked, making breathing very difficult.
“The children are blue, they have difficulty breathing, they need oxygen, they cannot feed themselves,” he said. We must therefore hospitalize them to reduce the stress on the lungs.”
Twenty-seven percent of mothers surveyed were “extremely concerned” about the possibility of their child contracting RSV before the age of six months. A little less than 60% of them feared that this infection would require hospitalization for their child or that it would cause them discomfort.
Approximately 25% of participants were aware of the existence of a maternal RSV vaccine and the existence of a medication for newborns.
“The provinces, like Quebec and Ontario, have just said yes, we will give it free to newborns, so that’s why we need to make people aware,” said the Doctor Roumeliotis.
The studies carried out in particular in Europe and Australia which have shown a very high protection rate are a “game changer”, he estimated, “because it really changes the way in which we can fight this virus”.
A little more than 840 people from across Canada, including 19% from Quebec, completed an online survey. Pollsters also conducted five virtual focus groups with participants from across Canada who identified as planning a pregnancy, currently pregnant or recently pregnant.
The survey and focus groups were conducted in July and August of this year.
