2023-10-25 21:15:12
The epidemic of bronchiolitis, a respiratory infection which mainly affects babies, continues to progress in France, where a new region, Normandy, is affected, and where hospitalizations after visits to the emergency room are increasing, health authorities announced on Wednesday.
Last week (from October 16 to 22), “activity linked to bronchiolitis in community medicine and hospitals continued to increase among children under 2 years old,” observed the agency Public health France (SpF) in a weekly assessment of acute respiratory infections.
Five other regions in the pre-epidemic phase
In mainland France, Normandy became the fourth region to enter the epidemic phase, after Brittany and Pays-de-la-Loire a week earlier and Ile-de-France two weeks earlier. Five other regions are in the pre-epidemic phase, Hauts-de-France being the latest.
Overseas, three regions (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana) remain in the epidemic phase.
Bronchiolitis, caused primarily by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), causes babies to have difficulty breathing. Generally not serious, it can sometimes lead to visits to the emergency room and hospitalizations.
A “more marked increase in hospitalizations”
From October 16 to 22, “the increase in hospitalizations after going to the emergency room was more marked than that of the previous week,” noted the health agency. In total, 2,370 children under the age of two went to the emergency room for bronchiolitis in mainland France, and 774 were hospitalized (+29% in one week).
“The virus is circulating” but “for the moment, it is much calmer than last year”, declared Wednesday morning Professor Christelle Gras-Le Guen, who is supporting the government communication campaign. “I hope it’s not just a time lag and that it (isn’t) going to be unleashed with the return of the school holidays.
The challenge of the vast baby immunization campaign
Last season, the epidemic was of an unprecedented scale for more than ten years, driving tens of thousands of babies into overwhelmed hospitals already struggling with Covid and flu.
One of the challenges this season is to know whether the vast campaign to immunize babies, via the preventive treatment Beyfortus (Sanofi), will have been effective in reducing hospitalizations. Victim of its success, this treatment was reserved for maternity hospitals while waiting for new stocks.
Some maternity wards were faced with supply tensions and forced to “prioritize” certain infants, according to information from France Inter on Wednesday. “It’s at times and in places” and “we do that during all epidemic periods,” said Professor Gras-Le Guen. “We are one of the only countries to use this product. The fact that there are supply tensions between two deliveries (…) is nothing to worry about,” according to her.
“Enough doses to cover the needs of maternity hospitals until December”
“It is possible that with the weekends, some health establishments had to face momentary tensions linked to deliveries” but “we have enough doses to cover the needs of maternity wards until December”, confirmed the office of the minister, and “exchanges are underway with manufacturers to obtain additional doses”.
So far, around 100,000 doses of Beyfortus 50 mg and 44,700 doses of 100 mg have been delivered, 38,000 doses of the first and 10,000 doses of the second are expected during November, “volumes in line with initial forecasts”, according to the same source.
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