Ohio boy, 2, is hospitalized after being infected by THREE viruses at the same time

A boy in Ohio has been hospitalized after catching three respiratory viruses at once – as some fear this will be more common after recent years’ lockdowns.

Wilder Jackson, 2, of Middletown, Ohio – just 30 miles north of Cincinnati, was simultaneously battling rhinovirus, enterovirus and adenovirus.

He first test positive for the flu after his family returned home from an early-September trip to Walt Disney World. He initially seemed to have recovered.

The young boy would later begin to suffer repeated fevers, reaching up to 105 degrees. Doctors were puzzled as he was suffering no other symptoms.

After a confusing six weeks, Wilder was diagnosed with all three viruses simultaneously at Dayton Children’s Hospital.

None of these viruses are considered to be especially dangerous to young children, but together they formed a severe combo.

Experts have also warned that these seemingly-mild infections will be more severe this year after two years of lockdowns and pandemic-related restrictions left immune systems untrained to deal with them.  

Children’s hospitals around the country have reportedly struggled to deal with a recent surge of infections, with some being filled to the brim with young patients. 

The young boy suffered from a fever so severe that he was experiencing hallucinations. His family took him to a local hospital were he received the last available bed

Wilder’s family told ABC that they initially treated him with Motrin and Tylenol to help relieve his fever symptoms – but they kept returning.

His family first took him to the emergency room at Cincinnati Children’s hospital when the fever surged to 103degrees on a Friday night.

Ciara, the boy’s mother, said that the family was initially told that is was just a virus and that he would be ok.

‘They took his temperature twice and then sent us home — because his fever had broken — because we had given them Tylenol,’ she explained.  

Two days later, Wilder’s fever had jumped to 105degrees and he was suffering fever dreams. His mother said that he was suffering hallucinations.

‘[He was] thinking he was outside. We were inside on the couch, and he was saying, ‘I want to go inside. I need to get away from the dinosaur,” she said.

‘He would look at like spots on the ceiling and just start freaking out and crying and he was shaking. It was kind of like the parental instinct — we need to go in.’

Wilder was taken to Dayton Children’s Hospital in the morning. Doctors were initially confused that his severe fever was not paired with other symptoms.

After a few days in the hospital, Wilder recovered from his illness and returned home. His sister was hospitalized with the cold only a few weeks earlier

After running tests, the boy was diagnosed with three relatively mild viruses – rhinovirus, enterovirus and adenovirus – that can devastating when combined.

When he was transferred to the main hospital campus in Dayton to receive treatment his family was told that he received the last available bed.

Like many other hospitals, Dayton Children’s was being hammered by a surge in respiratory infections.

The Department of Health and Human Services reported last week that 75 per cent of pediatric beds in the US were filled. 

‘We felt very fortunate that we got in,’ she said. 

She continued: ”My cousin who works [at Children Dayton’s] said they’re using pre op rooms for regular hospital rooms because they’re running out of space there.’ 

After two days in the hospital, Wilder was released on Wednesday morning after his fever had subsided for 24 hours. 

This was not the first scary situation the family suffered recently either.

Wilder’s younger sister, Frankie, 1, was hospitalized for six hours after suffering from a severe case of the common cold only a few weeks ago. 

Experts have warned that flu season this year will be more brutal than those previous, even warning of a ‘tripledemic’ between Covid, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Dr Scott Gottlieb, former head of the Food and Drug Administration, said last weekend that the country was in for an aggressive flu season.

‘We’re seeing a peak in cases right now,’ he told CBS’ Face the Nation..

‘This is not unlike the season last year, where we also saw an early peak.

‘In those cases, some people ascribe it to the fact that children have been somewhat removed from the circulating pathogen, so you don’t have as much immunity to the pathogen, so you don’t have as much immunity in the population generally.

‘So that’s changed the typical cycle for this virus.’

According to most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5,447 cases of RSV were recorded during the week that ended October 22.

A peak of 7,993 cases were recorded during the week that ended on October 15. 

Some have tied this jump in cases – and the severity of them – to Covid precautions in recent years.

The flu and other common viruses were nearly wiped out because of lockdowns, social distancing, masking and other pandemic-related orders.

As a result, many do not have the immune system strength necessary to combat infections.