Local doctors kept busy by respiratory ailments

While few people have been getting sick with the flu this winter, unusually high levels of pneumonia, chronic allergies and RSV - a respiratory illness that can be serious in young children - have been keeping local doctors' offices and emergency rooms busy.

"RSV can be very dangerous in children three months to a year old, because they can't breathe. We've been seeing a lot of it," said Dr. Oliver Mayorga, chairman of emergency medicine at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London. "They have (a) fever and a lot of wheezing. It makes them look like they have asthma when they don't have it."

Several children brought to L&M with the most serious cases of RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, have been sent to Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital or the Connecticut Children's Medical Center for care. Nebulizer treatments are the most effective remedy for the infection, Mayorga said. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, RSV is the leading cause of pneumonia in young children.

At The Westerly Hospital's North Stonington Health Center, there has also been an influx of cases of RSV as well as of pediatric pneumonia, said Dr. Pacqui Motyl, medical director of the health center, which has an urgent care clinic as well as primary care offices.

"I've been seeing two to three cases (of pediatric pneumonia) a week since November," said Motyl, adding that two children with severe cases were transferred to the Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence.

The William W. Backus Hospital's Colchester Health Center has also been seeing a higher-than-normal number of pneumonia cases this winter, but mainly in adults aged 25 to 40, said Clark Adams, physician assistant at the center. Also unusually high this winter has been the number of cases of people with chronic allergy symptoms coming to the center for care, Adams said.

These patients are experiencing symptoms such as stuffiness, runny nose and itchy eyes that normally don't emerge until the spring allergy season, Adams said, perhaps because the warm winter has kept pollen levels unusually high for this time of year.

Earlier-than-normal onset of allergy symptoms has also been a main reason patients have been coming to the North Stonington Medical Walk-In Center this winter, said Dr. Jerzy Stocki, the head physician there.

Across the country, flu activity is widespread only in California, according to the CDC. In Connecticut, less than 1 percent of all patient visits to emergency rooms this winter have been due to flu symptoms, noted Renee Savage, interim manager for the infection prevention department at L&M.

Whether that's attributable to high vaccination levels, a weak flu strain in circulation or some combination, that's good news this winter, Savage said. But people still need to remain vigilant about frequent hand-washing and covering coughs, she said, because these are the most effective weapons against getting or spreading infections.

Overall, the emergency department at Backus has seen a normal level of activity for this time of year, said hospital spokesman Shawn Mawhiney. L&M's emergency department, however, has been busier than in past winters, and more of those patients are being admitted to the hospital rather than being discharged after treatment in the emergency room, said Mayorga.

"We've had some record days this winter - a few days of 250 patients a day," Mayorga said. "The acuity level has been very high."

j.benson@theday.com