{"id":37819,"date":"2022-12-14T10:23:28","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T15:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=37819"},"modified":"2022-12-14T10:23:32","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T15:23:32","slug":"local-health-professionals-share-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-tripledemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=37819","title":{"rendered":"Local health professionals share what you need to know about the ‘Tripledemic’"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, The Times<\/em> @mikemcgannpa<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"

Glea Mazzuca, DO<\/p><\/div>\n

If you\u2019ve heard the term \u201ctripledemic\u201d of late and are unsure of how it could impact you and your family this holiday season, local healthcare providers are sharing information about what to look for, the differences between the three viruses involved and some simple things you and your family can do to stay healthy.<\/p>\n

Cases of flu, COVID-19 and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) are increasing in Chester County in December as people return to social settings many avoided over the last two years during the COVID pandemic. While vaccines are available for both flu and COVID-19, there is not currently a vaccine for RSV.<\/p>\n

But that coupled with an early and aggressive flu season, a spike in RSV cases \u2014 especially among young kids \u2014 and growing COVID rates have area hospitals again filling with patients fighting respiratory viruses. That also means viruses are spreading throughout the county.<\/p>\n

Glea Mazzuca, DO, is a primary care provider with ChristianaCare Primary Care and Women\u2019s Health at Kennett Square. She shared some tips of what to look for in terms of the three viruses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are facing facing a \u2018tripledemic\u2019 \u201c Mazzuca said. \u201cIt\u2019s been in the news and it has been pretty prevalent in our region.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the complicating issues is that the three respiratory viruses have many symptoms in common, which Mazzuca said can make it difficult to distinguish between the three without testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why it is important to seek help if there is difficulty breathing and high fevers that are not improving,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Typically, she said, patients presenting with these symptoms are tested for all three viruses, as the treatment for each is somewhat different \u2014 Tamiflu for flu, Paxlovid for Covid, as examples. At this point, there is no dedicated treatment for RSV.<\/p>\n

While RSV typically isn\u2019t dangerous for older kids and adults, it can be more of a hazard for the very young and the very old \u2014 especially those in either category with other respiratory health challenges. In most cases, though, Mazzuca said it can be managed at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe treatment (for RSV) is mostly supportive, to make sure the lungs are getting enough oxygen,\u201d Mazzuca said. She notes that most kids diagnosed with RSV do well at home with basic, over the counter medicines, such a Tylenol and moist air \u2014 from humidifiers or hot steamy showers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there are some children who are at higher risk for having severe illness,\u201d she said. \u201cSuch as children who have underlying asthma or underlying lung disease, and they may require hospitalization and oxygen supplementation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mazzuca said most kids do well with home treatment when it comes to RSV, but the spike in cases has left parents of young children concerned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more severe illness will be in young infants as well as the elderly,\u201d she said, but it can be spread by anyone, potentially putting they very young and very old at risk.<\/p>\n

Of course, the best option for battling any virus is prevention. Mazzuca points out that there are safe and effective vaccines for both flu and COVID-19 \u2014 available to virtually anyone over the age of six months. Both are effective at minimizing the severity of the virus and avoiding hospitalization.<\/p>\n

Some of the other options to prevent spread of viruses Mazzuca suggests are common sense stuff, such as regular hand washing, avoiding crowded indoor gatherings when possible and staying home when you are ill.<\/p>\n

And yes, masking under selective situations, she said, makes sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m also a good advocate of masks,\u201d she said. \u201cThey protect you, they protect others, especially if you are going to be in a crowded location.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just this week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommended people wear masks in public, especially for those areas with \u201chigh\u201d transmission of respiratory viruses. As of this week, the CDC lists Chester County as a \u201cmedium\u201d transmission area, although cases continue to climb.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa If you\u2019ve heard the term \u201ctripledemic\u201d of late and are unsure of how it could impact you and your family this holiday season, local healthcare providers are sharing information about what to look for, the differences between the three viruses involved and some simple things you and your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[138,14250,14248,6269,14247,14249],"class_list":["post-37819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-chester-county","tag-christianacare-primary-care","tag-do","tag-featured","tag-glea-mazzuca","tag-tripledemic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37819"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37820,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37819\/revisions\/37820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}