2024-07-24 11:11:08
(ANSA) – FLORENCE, JULY 23 – The Tuscany Region, among the first in Italy, is launching a universal and free immunization campaign for all children born after April 1, 2024, to protect them from the respiratory syncytial virus, the pathogen responsible for most acute lower respiratory tract infections, especially bronchiolitis. The initiative was presented at the Meyer Health Campus.
The spread of respiratory syncytial virus, it was explained, has a heavy impact on pediatric departments every winter: about one in 50 children must be hospitalized and about 20% of those hospitalized must be treated in intensive care. Long-term complications, such as bronchospasm and asthma, are also possible. Last winter, there were about 800 hospitalizations for respiratory syncytial virus in Tuscany, of which 160 children ended up in intensive care. Until now, the only prophylaxis available was a monoclonal antibody that required monthly administration; recently, a new monoclonal antibody was developed that has shown a reduction of over 80% in hospitalizations in newborns and a significant impact on reducing the severity of patients’ conditions. The campaign is aimed at all children born between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025.
The use of the antibody is recommended by scientific societies in children under one year of age who are at greater risk of infection. Prophylaxis will be guaranteed through a coordinated and integrated path that involves birth points, pediatricians and prevention departments of the ASL. Children born between April 1, 2024 and September 30, 2024 will be immunized in the pediatrician’s office in October. Children born between October 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025 will instead be immunized at birth points before hospital discharge. The Region’s investment in this immunization campaign is estimated to exceed 3 million. (ANSA).
2024-07-24 11:11:08