Elizabeth A. Conkling, PA-C

By staying home when you or a loved one is ill and washing your hands regularly, you can help keep yourself and your children healthy.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus, or RSV, may appear like a bad cold to adults. For infants or young children, RSV can cause bronchiolitis -- a virus which causes swelling and an increase in mucus in the airway. This can cause difficulty breathing through their nose and eventually dehydration due to difficulty latching to the breast or bottle for infants. Other symptoms of RSV may include a fever or a very wet sounding cough, which can turn into coughing fits. Those coughing fits can cause a child to gag and potentially vomit.