Federal health officials warned this week of a highly contagious cold-like virus that affects everyone, and leaves the elderly and young kids especially vulnerable — including a 14-month-old girl who landed in the intensive care unit.

New Orleans mom Mary Danna Daste and her husband, Kevin, rushed their daughter Vivian to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

The toddler had developed a troubling cough and high fever earlier this month, 4WWL reported.

“About 3 a.m., she started with this bark-like cough,” Daste told the network. “It sounded like a seal cough. At 5 a.m., her fever spiked to 103 degrees, so we went straight to Children’s Hospital [in New Orleans]. When they told me within 24 hours after that, that she was being put in ICU, that’s when I freaked out.”

Doctors told the parents that the tot also had pneumonia and adenovirus.

Vivian wasn’t the only child hospitalized for RSV.

“They said it’s really bad this year compared to other years,” Daste, who lives in Metairie, said doctors told her. “Out of the 19 rooms they had in ICU, about nine had children positive with RSV.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning that RSV can cause severe infections like bronchitis — an inflammation of the small airways in the lung — and pneumonia in children under 1.

Symptoms of the virus include runny nose, decrease in appetite, coughing, sneezing, fever and wheezing.

Almost all children will have had an RSV infection by their second birthday, according to the CDC.

Adults can contract the virus too. Most RSV infections go away on their own after a week or two.

Denise Kerut, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital, advised parents to look out for symptoms that are similar to a bad cold.

“The sniffles, nasal congestion, cough, sore throat,” she said. “Every winter we fill a lot of beds with babies who have RSV. We don’t have a vaccine but we’re working on one.”

She warned to keep a close eye on infected children — and practice good hygiene, like washing your hands to avoid getting sick.

“It’s one of the leading causes of death in babies,” she said. “We take it seriously. If they notice the child is breathing really rapidly, more than 60 times a minute, you need to get them seen definitely. Or if you notice around their rib cage the muscles are contracting and you can see the ribs with each breath.”