MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Respiratory disease outbreak in Santiago.

Hospitals in Santiago are overflowing with children suffering from a respiratory virus that already has claimed two babies' lives, and with not much prospects of decreasing in intensity according to Chilean health authorities given current extreme climatic conditions.

The virus especially affects toddlers below a year old causing bronchial obstruction and bronco-pneumonia, which can be fatal if not treated promptly

The current outbreak of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is the worst in Chile since 1994 with so many infants ill that hospitals and clinics have been forced to set up cots in hallways while other small patients are cradled in parents' arms waiting for a bed. Symptoms are those of bronchitis and viral pneumonia, and leads to the infection of the lower respiratory track in infants and young children.

President Ricardo Lagos promised that all the necessary resources would be available to combat the epidemic. Chilean health authorities are not inclined to declare a national emergency since they believe it could cause a "public commotion".

According to official statistics in 2003 a total of 65 children died from respiratory ailments in Chile, and even when the number is high it is considerably less than the 700 minors who died from the dreaded respiratory virus in 1994.

Chilean Health Ministry announced that all maternity facilities, plus all the needed oxygen tanks, are now available for pediatric patients suffering from respiratory complications. Besides all non-urgent surgery have been postponed until the peak of the RSV outbreak has been reached.

During winter months Santiago, boxed in against the Andes and the most industrialized region of the country, is exposed to the concentrated industrial and environmental contamination of its five million residents when hot air is trapped by the freezing currents flowing down from the mountains.