The respiratory syncytial virus ( RSV) began surging unseasonably early this year, infecting babies and young children who had little or no immunity to that virus, which wasn't circulating all that much over the past two years, in part, because of COVID-19 precautions. 'We're calling this a tripledemic.' Flu and RSV are back, big time
William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University. 'We're facing an onslaught of three viruses - COVID, RSV and influenza. But the country is now dealing with a different kind of threat - an unpredictable confluence of old and new respiratory pathogens. No one thinks this year will be anything like the last two dark pandemic winters, at least when it comes to COVID-19. 3) Transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron virus particles (gold).įor each of the last two years, Thanksgiving helped usher in some very unwelcome guests: Devastating waves of COVID-19. 2) Scanning electron micrograph of human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) virions (colorized blue) that are shedding from the surface of human lung epithelial cells. From left: 1) Colored scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a human cell infected with H3N2 flu virus (gold filamentous particles).
