An INFANT study recently published in the prestigious journal Clinical Infectious Diseases showed that 20 percent of children who die at home before the age of 5 died from respiratory syncytial virus lung infection.
This important finding revealed that many of these deaths are erroneously considered as sudden infant death and, not knowing the real cause of death, no health measures are taken to prevent them.
In addition to the presence of RSV, 66% of the infants who died at home had underlying health problems, the most important of which was malnutrition. Living in precarious homes and having been born by cesarean section are other associated causes. The information gathered in this work by INFANT researchers has determined that in the last 5 years, for every baby who dies in the hospital, another one dies at home from an illness associated with respiratory syncytial virus.
In addition, the main obstacles and challenges to determining community mortality were identified as taking consent from families, sampling individuals at the household level, supporting bereaved parents with different cultural backgrounds, and establishing logistical strategies adapted to complex environments.
The data provided by the study are key to accurately estimate the true impact of the disease associated with this virus, to alert health personnel to identify life-threatening infants, and to justify the urgency of developing vaccines against this pathogen.
To read the complete articles: https://www.infant.org.ar/post/hallazgo-el-20-de-las-muertes-domiciliarias-de-beb%C3%A9s-en-el-conurbano-son-causadas-por-vsr#:~:text=En%20un%20estudio%20de%20INFANT,por%20el%20virus%20sincicial%20respiratorio.
