The epidemic returns each year, more or less intensely. The 2022-2023 season of bronchiolitis in infants got off to a very strong start, with the number of weekly hospitalizations and emergency room visits rising to levels that have not been seen for ten years. On social networks, some netizens wondered whether adults could also get bronchiolitis. The answer is yes, but “it is not the same disease as in children”, indicates to the Parisian Pr Mathieu Molimard, pulmonologist and pharmacologist at the Bordeaux University Hospital.
Bronchiolitis is an inflammation of the bronchioles, the pulmonary ducts that extend the bronchi. It can have multiple origins. In toddlers, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common culprit. “Adults can also get RSV infections, but much less frequently and less severely because of their underlying immunity. This most often results in a simple cold or bronchitis,” says Mathieu Molimard.
The elderly are however more at risk of RSV infection, which can have an “impact” on them due to lower immunity, indicates the Ministry of Health. “This intense epidemic of bronchiolitis in infants could be followed by fairly violent attacks in seniors”, fears a hospital doctor and researcher specializing in respiratory viruses.
“Various” Symptoms
In middle-aged adults, bronchiolitis often results from an infection by another virus or bacteria, for example in connection with intracellular germs. “I recently took care of bronchiolitis in a man contaminated by a bacterium who was in his jacuzzi”, illustrates in Sud Ouest Professor François Vincent, pulmonologist at the Limoges University Hospital. It can also occur following a lung transplant or a bone marrow transplant, for example.
“Unlike bronchiolitis in children, which are mostly viral and acute, bronchiolitis in adults does not manifest with the same symptoms, which can be varied, depending on the cause of the bronchiolitis”, we read on the general public site medisite.fr. The most common disorders are “cough, difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, etc. “, enumerates Mathieu Molimard. Various medications (corticosteroids, immunosuppressants, etc.) can be used.
In some cases, bronchiolitis can somehow “transform” into bronchiolitis obliterans with pneumonic organization (Boop), also known as cryptogenic organized pneumonia (POC). “It’s more complicated because she becomes less sensitive to cortisone,” explains François Vincent. If a patient is affected, “pulmonological follow-up remains necessary thereafter, in order to detect a possible recurrence”, concludes the Swiss Medical Review.