An increase in a virus that causes infections of the lungs and respiratory tract has caused Geisinger to temporarily restrict children under age 5 from visiting children's and women's inpatient units.

Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton, and Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, have issued the restrictions due to an increase in pediatric Respiratory Syncytial Virus cases."It is typical for hospitals to initiate sibling visitor restrictions to children's and women's inpatient areas for the protection of our patients. This is an annual practice and is usually lifted at the end of the winter season," said pediatrician Michael Ryan.However, that hasn't been the case at Blue Mountain Health System, according to Kathy Matika, director of infection control."No, we have not had any elevated numbers of RSV in the community here that we've seen," Matika said. "We still have not been seeing any increase in flu cases."Matika added, "Certainly if we would experience RSV or flu or some other increase in communicable disease, we would consider limiting visitors for the safety of our patients. It's always the recommendation to not visit anyone in the hospital if you're experiencing any cold or flu symptoms."According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children under 1 year.When infants and children are exposed to RSV for the first time, 25 to 40 out of 100 of them have signs or symptoms of bronchiolitis or pneumonia, and 5 to 20 out of 1,000 will require hospitalization.Most children hospitalized for RSV infection are younger than 6 months of age.RSV illness develops four to six days after exposure, typically with a runny nose and decrease in appetite.Coughing, sneezing and fever can follow one to three days later, and wheezing may also occur.In very young infants, irritability, decreased activity and breathing difficulties may be the only symptoms.Kristine Porter contributed to this report.