RSV made COVID feel a walk in the park

Kiara White had never heard of RSV when her five-month-old son Flynn contracted the respiratory virus in 2022.

The source of the virus a mystery, baby Flynn started exhibiting classic cold-like symptoms including a runny nose and slight cough. After two days, when Flynn’s cough had deteriorated to alarming bouts of breath-holding, Kiara became very worried.

“Flynn went from a snotty nose to a scary cough over the course of a couple of days. He had moments where he’d cough so hard and then stop, holding his breath while I was wondering if he had stopped breathing entirely. I was petrified,” Kiara said.

When the family’s GP saw Flynn, they were told he was “a very sick baby” and needed to go to hospital immediately.

In hospital, Flynn was diagnosed with pneumonia caused by RSV, requiring two rounds of antibiotics.

At the same time, Kiara and husband David were also batting their own bout of RSV, describing the virus as “terrible.”

“I remember thinking, if I feel this bad, how on earth is my little baby coping? He has absolutely no understanding of what is happening or why,” Kiara said.

Kiara recalls it was a “good two weeks” before Flynn’s condition started to improve.

Then, three weeks later, the family contracted COVID-19.

“Compared to RSV, COVID was a walk in the park for all three of us,” Kiara said. “I am really looking forward to the time when RSV is preventable through immunisation.”