Does your child always catch colds? Be careful, it may be this virus that is causing trouble!

Just after work in the afternoon, a mother rushed into the clinic holding a little girl and asked anxiously: "Doctor, my daughter came to the emergency room last night. She has had a fever for 2 days. The results just came out showed that she was positive for human rhinovirus. What kind of virus is this? My daughter is 4 years old and has never had this disease. Is it very serious?"

As the seasons change and the temperature drops, more and more children are experiencing respiratory symptoms such as fever, cough, nasal congestion, and runny nose. Parents are more familiar with mycoplasma, influenza, syncytial virus, and adenovirus.

With the improvement of detection technology, many medical institutions have carried out virus tests that include rhinovirus. Some are simply rhinovirus positive, while others are mycoplasma positive or syncytial virus positive and other combined rhinovirus positive. Seeing positive but unfamiliar viruses, parents are naturally worried.

1. What is rhinovirus?

Experts from Hunan Provincial People's Hospital said that rhinovirus (RV) is a small non-enveloped virus with great diversity. According to gene sequence analysis, there are many types of rhinovirus, and currently three types are recognized, A, B, and C, with a total of 171 serotypes. There is basically no cross-protection between different types of rhinovirus, and it is very easy to cause repeated infections. About 30%-50% of colds in adults and children are caused by rhinovirus infection.

2. How did you get infected with rhinovirus?

The main route of transmission of rhinovirus infection is respiratory transmission, through direct contact, droplets or aerosols. The virus contains many serotypes. Although the body has a certain degree of immunity after infection, it cannot obtain complete immunity and may still be infected again.

3. What are the symptoms of rhinovirus infection?

Rhinovirus infection is a relatively mild, self-limiting disease. Symptoms of rhinovirus infection in children are common cold symptoms, including cough, sneezing, headache, hoarseness, runny nose, etc. Most of the patients have fever during the course of the disease, but the fever is short-lived. Some patients may experience chills, general fatigue, etc.

Rhinovirus is also one of the common causes of wheezing in infants and young children, and can cause a variety of diseases such as bronchiolitis, asthmatic bronchitis, and acute attacks of bronchial asthma. Children may clinically present with paroxysmal wheezing and moist rales and/or wheezing, and chest X-rays often show bronchopneumonia and bronchiolitis.

4. How to treat and prevent rhinovirus infection?

Currently, there is no specific antiviral drug for rhinovirus infection. If children are infected with rhinovirus and have mild or no obvious clinical symptoms, only symptomatic treatment is needed.

If there is a cough, nebulizer or cough suppressants can be used. If there is a fever, physical cooling or antipyretics can be used. If there is a runny nose or nasal congestion, nasal washing can be used to relieve the symptoms. If there are severe complications such as lung lesions and wheezing, hospitalization is required.

There is no vaccine for rhinovirus infection. The key to prevention is to wash hands frequently, wear masks, and try to avoid close contact with sick people to reduce the risk of infection.

Hunan Medical Chat Special Author: Wang Juanmei, Pediatric Outpatient and Emergency Department, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital

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(Edited by YT)