In a quiet Adelaide suburb, Deborah Smith, a 72-year-old retired nurse, finds herself battling the lingering effects of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) six years after the infection.

As a former nurse, Deborah was no stranger to health challenges. However, nothing could have prepared her for the debilitating impact of severe RSV.

In June 2022, mother-of-three Kellie Damon noticed her 13-month son Owen was unusually quiet and still.

For a baby who was always on the go, Kellie was concerned, especially when she noticed how pale he looked. Something wasn’t right.

When Marie Compagnon bought home newborn Elio during the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020, the family did what they could to protect him.

Santanna’s second child Rebel was only four weeks old when she caught RSV from her two-year-old brother in July 2023.

By day three of cold-like symptoms, baby Rebel took a turn for the worse and was rushed to Monash Children’s Hospital.

The source of the virus a mystery, baby Flynn started exhibiting classic cold-like symptoms including a runny nose and slight cough. After two days, when Flynn’s cough had deteriorated to alarming bouts of breath-holding, Kiara became very worried.

In May 2023, when Megan Behn’s three-month old baby Xavier developed a blocked nose, little did she know it was the first sign of an illness that would result in a five-day hospital stay.

In April 2023, 68-year-old Margaret McMahon started to feel a little unwell but brushed it off to simply being rundown. 

It was last winter, and Harper had the sniffles and a cough. Karl and I assumed she just had a bit of a cold. But within hours, she became very sick. 

Born six weeks early, Chloe and Macie were healthy newborns, and we were happy parents. Five weeks later, our world turned upside down.  

In the winter of 2016, just 18 months after our four-week-old baby boy had died from the complications of whooping cough, my husband and I confronted the realities of RSV when three-week old Lucy was rushed to hospital.