Health Matters: Vaccinations to start for another highly infectious condition
The world is full of acronyms, collections of letters that stand for words.
Sometimes they are relatively well known such as NHS or BBC but sometimes the acronyms are more mysterious and health professionals are often responsible using in these collections of letters in communications which may be hard to understand.
I want to talk about an acronym today, but one that I hope we can start to get to know. That acronym is RSV. It stands for “respiratory syncytial virus”, so no wonder we normally refer to it by its initials instead.
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RSV is a common virus that affects breathing, and it is highly infectious.
It can be especially severe for children under the age of one and for some older people who may have poorer immunity to infection.
The good news is that there is an effective vaccine available, and the vaccination programme is just starting.
The groups of people who are going to be invited for vaccination reflect those who are at risk.
Pregnant women are being invited and the immunity that they generate is passed on protect their baby.
People who are aged from 75 to 79 are also being invited for vaccination.
I would like to encourage everyone invited to take up the offer of vaccination to protect themselves and others who are vulnerable.
As we think about viruses that affect our breathing, we need to remember another virus acronym and one that is much better known – Covid-19. “It stands for corona virus disease 2019”.
We are now nearing five years since the first appearance of Covid. The restrictions and the rules are long gone and the swift development and acceptance of Covid vaccines have played a large part in the great reduction in the impact of the virus.
Yet Covid has not disappeared, and we continue to hear about people affected, some of whom need admission to hospital.
We no longer monitor how many Covid cases are in the community, but we do have evidence of a wave of the disease.
We are dealing with the same type of virus that we have encountered before, not some radical new variant, and we have the same ways to tackle Covid.
Vaccination is still particularly important, and the next round of invitations will be coming out in the autumn for people who are at higher risk.
There will also be the annual influenza vaccination campaign tackling another virus that can be a serious threat to our health.
We should continue to take sensible precautions to look after our own health and reduce the risk of infecting others.
For example, if we have symptoms of Covid we should try to stay away from other people until we are feeling better and we should always cover our mouth when coughing or sneezing.
We can all play our part in reducing the risks from diseases, whether the diseases are familiar to us or are new.
Dr Tim Allison is NHS Highland’s director of public health and policy.
