RSV is more than a treatment and hospital problem

RSV is filling pediatric wards in Poland even though most children hospitalized with the infection had no previously defined risk factors for severe disease.

More than 20,000 children under five were hospitalized during the 2022-23 season. Newborns and infants accounted for 70 to 80 percent of those admissions. Nearly 95 percent of hospitalized children had not shown one of the recognized risk factors before becoming ill.

The number of recorded infections has also climbed. Poland registered more than 94,000 RSV cases from Jan. 1 to Dec. 15, 2025, compared with nearly 40,000 during the same period in 2024. More than 33,000 cases in 2025 involved children under two.

The seasonal concentration of infections in autumn and winter adds pressure when other respiratory illnesses are also circulating. Pediatric wards, emergency departments and intensive care units can operate near capacity, forcing some planned visits and procedures to be postponed. Prof. Marcin Czech said RSV also affects highly specialized centers that primarily treat other complex conditions.

Transmission within a child’s immediate environment accounts for 54.8 percent of spread, including from parents, siblings and grandparents. The Fundacja Instytutu Matki i Dziecka’s “Compass for Infant RSV Preparedness” examines the challenge from the perspective of hospitals, the health system, medical staff and parents, asking whether the scale of the next infection season can be reduced before treatment becomes necessary.

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RSV is a topic that also affects highly specialized centers, which normally focus on treating other, often very complex diseases