Right now, RSV is sweeping across South Africa. Many of South Africa’s big health organizations, like our partner the National Institute For Communicable Diseases Of South Africa, are putting out warnings to clinicians.

If you, a friend or a family member are over 18, and feel sick with RSV which gives you cold-like symptoms like fever, coughing, runny noses and sore throats, get your self tested for free with our Cough Check study!

If your child is feeling sick, and they are showing the warning signs of a serious RSV infection, you can get them tested quickly with our 3 in 1 PCR test. This test uses just one swab but tests for RSV, influenza and COVID, so you will know exactly what’s going on.

If you decide not to do the fieldwork/data collection yourself, and you are going to have paid team members. Pay your team a set salary, with prizes only used to recognize outstanding achievement amongst your team.

RSV is usually mild, but it can be serious, especially for infants and older adults. This is because RSV can lead to other conditions like Pneumonia or bronchiolitis. The symptoms of RSV can also get worse, especially for people with underlying conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and congestive heart failure.

Over the last 10 years RSV had a pattern, it usually started infecting people before flu season kicked off and died down around the end of Feb. But with COVID-19 pandemic the RSV season has been thrown off its usual patterns and is only starting now at the end of March. The big thing that’s worrying a lot of health researchers though is this RSV’s season’s higher than usual infection rate, that’s really hit schools and especially kids under 5 hard this year.

Epicentre has an extensive walk-in testing centre for both rapid and lab tests. Learn more here.

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