The cough that sometimes kills - An update on RSV for GPs and paediatricians

This educational activity aims to reorient primary healthcare providers in the community setting to the evolving epidemiology of RSV in Australia. While RSV can lead to children becoming severely unwell and hospitalised, the majority of children will be assessed in the first instance by primary healthcare practitioners.

As RSV lay relatively dormant during COVID, most clinician focus was on the identification of that illness during the COVID pandemic. Relaxed COVID restrictions has resulted in changing RSV patterns and severity of infection. It is important to re-focus attention to non-COVID respiratory infections in children, with particular emphasis on children at particular risk of poor outcomes. Use of evidence-based care in the community and signals for escalating care to tertiary settings is called for. Emerging treatments and preventive measures will play a role in mitigating the effect of this disease.

Learning objectives:

1. Describe the changing epidemiology, symptomatic presentations, and severity of RSV in the post-COVID restriction environment in Australia
2. Outline an approach to clinical and laboratory diagnosis of RSV in children and the requirements for infectious disease notifications and surveillance
3. Understand the pathophysiology of RSV in children, its impacts on at-risk populations, and capacity for long-term sequelae
4. List the evidence-based investigations and management of RSV in the community, and contrast that approach to the care given for severe disease in the tertiary setting
5. Summarise the emerging treatments and preventive measures for RSV that will become available in the Australian context in the near future

Provider Details
The Provider of this activity is Praxhub. Praxhub is an authorised Provider of education under the RACGP CPD Program and a Certified Learning Provider under the CPD Home 2023-24 CPD Program. This activity has been endorsed by APNA according to approved quality standards criteria.