More and more children are being admitted to hospitals in New Zealand due to respiratory pathogens, and most of them have severe symptoms. According to local doctors, the country is now suffering from “immunodeficiency” in society due to the lockdown imposed due to the coronavirus and distance.
The majority of children who are hospitalized are infected with what is called respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and the disease can be fatal, with many infected already receiving oxygen. RSV is a relatively common virus, causing mild symptoms in adults, but it can be severe in children and may be fatal. According to local experts, the number of infections has now jumped because many pathogens such as influenza or traditional coronaviruses, as well as RSV, did not spread in the previous winter, leading to a lack of immunity among New Zealanders.
One doctor likened epidemics to forest fires, saying that a lack of immunity is like having no wildfires for a few years in an area that is usually plagued by fire annually. Thus, the first bushfire after the outage would be much more destructive than the annual bushfire, partly because it can burn more biomass and partly because nature is becoming more and more accustomed to wildfires. (guardian)
