Editor’s Note:  This article was written for parents and guardians and was shared by  NASN.

[Source:  CNN]

A sniffle, a sneeze or a cough can set off alarm bells these days for families with young children.

Mother of two Vickie Leon said her kids, ages 4 and 2, can sometimes go a month or two without bringing anything back from day care. Then there are times when it seems the family in Aurora, Colorado, is sniffling with a virus every other week.

“Once that hits, we are just in it for a while,” she said.

Many kids have spent years socially distancing to protect against Covid-19, and now health care systems are being overloaded with cases of the respiratory virus RSV — which can cause a runny nose, decreased appetite, coughing, sneezing, fever and wheezing.

There are two major symptoms that should prompt concern in respiratory infections — difficulty breathing and dehydration, says Dr. Leana Wen.

Can your child’s respiratory infection can be treated at home? How to know: 

The viral infection has always been common. Almost all children catch RSV at some point before they turn 2, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. And immunity developed after an infection often wanes over time, leading people to have multiple infections in a lifetime, said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Division of

Read the Rest of this Article on CNN