The annual bronchiolitis epidemic, which mainly affects babies, has spread to most of the French metropolis after accelerating in recent days, the public health agency announced on Wednesday.
During the week ending November 5, “bronchiolitis-related activity increased significantly in France,” summarizes a weekly report from Public Health France.
Four new regions (Hauts-de-France, Burgundy-Franche-Comté, New Aquitaine and Occitanie) are now considered to be in the epidemic phase, bringing the number of metropolitan regions in this situation to ten.
Less early than last year
Of the remaining three, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur are in the pre-epidemic phase and only Corsica is spared. Abroad, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Guyana remain affected by the epidemic.
Bronchiolitis, mainly caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), causes breathing difficulties in babies. It is generally not serious, but it can lead to emergency room visits and hospitalizations.
Last year, it was the cause of an unprecedented epidemic in more than ten years, which sent tens of thousands of children to the hospital.
The epidemic is currently lower than in the same period in 2022, but several indicators (consultations to private doctors, visits to the emergency room) accelerated last week to return to the already high level of 2021.
One of the big doubts is the effect that a new preventive treatment, Beyfortus from Sanofi, will have. Initially offered to all babies born from February onwards, it is currently reserved for maternity hospitals, pending new stock.
French Public Health has also taken stock of two other diseases: Covid, in a phase of decline, and seasonal flu, still limited to a few sporadic cases in mainland France awaiting the inevitable annual epidemic.
Only Reunion Island and now Mayotte, which are in a special situation because they are subject to an inverse climate in the southern hemisphere, are already in the epidemic phase.
Source: BFM TV
