ALBANY, GA (WALB) - South Georgia pediatricians are reporting a spike this week in sick children, and it's not just the flu.
On Wednesday, Phoebe's pediatric staff said there is a higher than normal patient census at the hospital.
There are children with influenza, RSV and an unnamed respiratory virus.
Phoebe Pediatric Nurse Elizabeth Greene said they are also seeing a lot of pneumonia patients.
"It gets into your lungs and, unfortunately, kids under the age of 12 months usually aren't able to get those secretions up. So, they kind of sit there, and they either have a virus attached with them, or there is some bacteria that can grow as well. It turns into pneumonia, and at that point sometimes they need to be treated with antibiotics," explained Greene.
There are also more sickle cell anemia patients in the hospital.
The cold weather can cause sickle cell patients to go into crisis.
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