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A mum is asking other parents to keep their children off school if they are unwell, after her baby was hospitalised with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
RSV causes infection in the lungs and respiratory tract. It can cause severe infection in some people, including young babies and older adults.
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Carmen Bremiller, 27, from New York, has been looking after her three daughters for several weeks, after they came down with the virus.
She told Fox News Digital that her children — Sophia, 10, Ashlynn, six, Caroline, four, Ava, three, and Kinsley, one - all caught a cold in early September when they went back to school.
While Carmen kept them off school for a week, by October their symptoms had returned along with a fever, eye mucus and loss of appetite.
Carmen contacted her local doctor due to the children being unwell for such a long period, but just days later and three of her daughters were diagnosed with RSV.
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"My two middle children became pretty sick but got over it on their own and are doing much better," says Carmen.
"Unfortunately, my youngest daughter didn’t do so well with it."
When one-year-old Kinsley was examined in mid October, her oxygen levels were found to be low and she was transferred to a children's hospital.
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The little one was diagnosed with pneumonia, meanwhile blood tests confirmed RSV was still present in her system.
Kinsley was moved to the intensive care unit and placed on a ventilator. She was later intubated and sedated.
"It was extremely hard seeing her like that," says Carmen.
"With a tube down her throat, completely unconscious, and all kinds of lines and IVs. I tried not to cry.
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"I felt responsible. How could I not know how sick she was? Why didn’t I take her in sooner? How could something like this happen so fast?"
Kinsley was in hospital for three works but with medications and breathing tests, she slowly began to make a recovery.
"I cried as I was finally able to hold her again after two-and-a-half weeks, which felt like years," says the mum.
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Now, Carmen is asking for parents not to send their children to school if they are poorly.
"You may be frustrated and not able to find someone to watch them so you can work, but figure it out," she adds.
"You may even blame the school for getting your child sick in the first place. And that may be true, but it doesn’t make it right or OK to knowingly send your child to school with a virus that’s contagious and harmful to other children.
"Just remember next time, my baby could be your baby."
Carmen's family has launched a GoFundMe after both parents were out of work during Kinsley’s hospitalisation. You can donate here.
Lucy Devine