Ita Buttrose launches education campaign to warn people about RSV

Ita Buttrose has a rule: If her grandchildren have a cough or sniffle, she will not let them kiss her. It’s just not worth it. Read why here.

Ita Buttrose has a rule: If her grandchildren have a cough or sniffle, she will not let them kiss her. It’s just not worth it.

Ms Buttrose is on a mission, partnering with healthcare company GSK, to launch a nationwide education campaign aimed at helping older Australians understand the risks of the respiratory infection RSV and how serious it can be.

“It has slipped under the radar with older Australians, no one has paid much attention to it,” she said.

“People think it’s just a flu or cold, ‘I’ll just soldier on’, but this is quite serious.

“You have to be very, very aware of it if you’re over 65 in particular.”

Ita Buttrose is raising awareness about RSV. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

While Ms Buttrose, 82, hasn’t contracted RSV herself, she’s hyper-vigilant about precautions, particularly around her grandchildren.

“You’ve got to be careful with grandchildren, I don’t let them kiss me if they’ve got a cough or runny nose, because we all know they carry a lot of germs,” she said. “My advice is to protect yourself as best as possible and if things don’t feel normal, or if you’re struggling to breathe, you should go and see your doctor immediately.”

Lisa Loader, pictured with her husband Greg Dalgarno, said her bout of RSV had her terrified. Picture: Supplied

Lisa Loader, 60, caught RSV from her three-year-old grandson and initially thought it was nothing more than a cough and sniffle.

But her condition quickly went south, and she was unable to breathe through a choking cough.

“I’d rather have Covid 27 times over,” she said.

With her doctor closed on the weekend and her husband and son away for work, Ms Loader stayed up for two nights alone, refusing to close her eyes, out of fear she was going to die.

“I was terrified. It was the first time I had thought about my own mortality,” she said.

At hospital her lung infection was treated with high-strength antibiotics and asthma puffers, but she was eventually diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia.

“People see this as a kid’s disease, but we are forgetting it can impact all generations,” Ms Loader said.

So far this year, 10,418 people over the age of 50 have tested positive for RSV in NSW — a jump of more than 2000 cases on the same period last year.

Dr Paul Van Buynder said “many older people who are hospitalised with RSV … end up … either going home and needing home care or they need to move to some sort of residential facility.”

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