As an infectious disease expert and pediatrician, Schlaudecker knows firsthand the troubling complications that can happen when infants and young children get respiratory syncytial virus. Their tiny airways may become inflamed, mucus and infection-fighting cells can build up, she said.
"It makes it very difficult to breathe," Schlaudecker said. "They often can't eat very well. It is very scary."
And there is no curative treatment. "We can only support the babies as they fight through this infection," she said. That can mean putting an infant on a ventilator. "We feel somewhat powerless as doctors."
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