Amy Schumer reveals her son was hospitalised with RSV; know more about the contagious virus

American standup comedian and actor Amy Schumer recently revealed that her three-year-old son Gene was admitted to the hospital. “This was the hardest week of my life,” she wrote on Instagram, adding that her son “was rushed to ER and admitted for RSV“. Giving a shoutout to all the parents going through this right now, she added, “My son is home and better.”
The 41-year-old revealed that she also missed her Thursday rehearsal for Saturday Night Live due to her son’s health. “I got to be with him the whole day at the hospital and the beautiful humans at @nbcsnl couldn’t have been more supportive,” she wrote.
To understand more about the condition, we reached out to experts. Find out what they had to say:

According to Dr Rajneesh Srivastava, Consultant, Respiratory Medicine, Medanta Hospital, Lucknow, “Respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-uhl) virus, or RSV, is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms.” He added that while most people recover in a week or two, RSV can be critical in infants and older adults.
“RSV can potentially cause more serious infections like bronchiolitis (inflammation of the tiny airways in the lung) and pneumonia (lung infection),” he explained.

Causes
Dr Srivastava shared that RSV can spread when:
*An infected person coughs or sneezes.*You get virus droplets from a cough or sneeze in your eyes, nose, or mouth.*You have direct contact with the virus, like kissing the face of a child with RSV.*You touch a surface that has the virus on it, like a doorknob, and then touch your face before washing your hands.
Symptoms
“Signs and symptoms of respiratory syncytial virus infection often occur four to six days after virus exposure. RSV typically causes mild cold-like symptoms,” the expert shared. These are:
RSV typically causes mild cold-like symptoms (Source: Getty Images/Thinkstock)
*Nose congestion or runny nose*Low-grade fever*Dry cough*Sneezing*Sore throat*Headache

Tips to prevent RSV spread
While there’s no vaccine available to completely prevent RSV spread, Dr Srivastava suggested lifestyle changes which can help reduce the spread of this infection.
If you have cold-like symptoms you should:
*Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds*Avoid close contact, such as kissing, shaking hands, and sharing cups and eating utensils, with others.
Parents of children at high risk for developing severe RSV disease should:
*Avoid close contact with sick people.*Wash their hands.*Avoid touching their face with unwashed hands.*Limit the time they spend in childcare centres or other potentially contagious settings during periods of high RSV activity.*Wash your hands frequently, avoid exposure, keep things clean, don’t share drinking glasses, don’t smoke, and wash toys on a regular basis.
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