Irish dad shares warning after his 12-week-old baby was hospitalised with RSV

His baby boy was "quite unresponsive" after contracting RSV.

An Irish father has issued a warning to parents after his 12-week-old son was hospitalised with RSV. Paul Murphy's baby boy became ill on Halloween and got progressively worse. He was hospitalised and later diagnosed with RSV. Respiratory Syncytial Virus is common, especially during this time of year, but Mr. Murphy has called on the HSE to do more about the virus. He told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that his son ended up receiving treatment in Sweden. The dad said it was horrible to see his son deteriorate so quickly. He explained that baby Liam was "quite unresponsive". He was also "almost turning blue around the eyes and the mouth". Mr. Murphy said RSV seems to have developed into a far more aggressive virus, especially for babies. Liam was treated in ICU at Children's Health Ireland, Temple Street. He is currently receiving treatment at Children's Health Ireland, Crumlin, but required treatment in Sweden for "emergency ECMO therapy treatment". His father said it was horrible to see his son so ill. He told Morning Ireland; "We had to travel to Sweden for what was essentially emergency ECMO therapy treatment." His dad explained that the treatment "is a very, very serious advanced life support."

"We were told that when he got there, he had actually needed to be resuscitated with CPR"

"Liam was flown to Stockholm by air ambulance and despite being stable when he left Crumlin hospital with the team from Sweden, he needed to be resuscitated on arrival there." "We were told that when he got there, he had actually needed to be resuscitated with CPR, so that was quite scary, but leaving Crumlin he was in a stable condition, so again the virus was so aggressive and completely saturated his lung." "They had to completely rest his lungs. And that's the treatment that he was put on, which is ECMO, which is basically extracorporeal membrane oxygenation." Baby Liam was in the hospital in Stockholm for 11 days. He is finally recovering from the virus, but his dad said the messaging around RSV needs to be stronger. "I think RSV is something that the general public and certainly us before this happened would consider, as maybe a common cold." He said they're "lucky to have him here" after everything he went through. The father continued; "I know there have been some health warnings on it, but in my view not sufficient." He also said the treatment they got in Sweden should be available in Ireland.

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