The bronchiolitis epidemic, which saturates French hospitals and puts all French pediatric services in difficulty, continues to gain ground. In its latest weekly bulletin for the week of October 24-30, Public Health France sounds the alarm.
“Very significant, rapid and early increase in bronchiolitis monitoring indicators in children under 2 years of age, and which is increasing for most indicators compared to the previous week,” warns the organization.
6167 emergency room visits in one week
As of now, the entire metropolitan territory is in the epidemic phase, including Corsica, which was still in the pre-epidemic phase. Public Health France evokes “a more marked intensity in the north of France”. Guadeloupe, Martinique and Guyana are also in the epidemic phase.
In terms of figures, Public Health France mentions 6167 visits to the emergency room related to bronchiolitis from October 24 to 30, an increase of +47% compared to the previous week. As for hospitalizations, 1,978 were registered in the same week, or 45% more in seven days.
In the graphs relating to the different bronchiolitis epidemics since 2019, the curve corresponding to the 2022-2023 season clearly stands out. In three years, the figure of 6,000 hospitalizations had never been reached.
“Number of emergency visits and hospitalizations for bronchiolitis very high and at levels higher than those observed in the epidemic peaks of the three previous seasons and already equivalent to those of the peak of the 2018-2019 season,” details Public Health France.
A disease that affects very young children
A rebound in cases that will not lighten pediatric services in France, already overwhelmed. The situation is particularly tense in Île-de-France, where around thirty very young patients requiring admission to intensive care have been transferred to another department. On BFMTV on Wednesday, the father of little Dylan, 20 days old born during his transfer, had deplored the sending of his hospitalized son in Paris to Lille.
Bronchiolitis is a very common respiratory disease in infants and children under 2 years of age. As Public Health France indicates, “most of the time it is due to a virus called respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that affects the small bronchi.”
Symptoms that should alert parents are difficulty breathing in the child, wheezing or difficulty eating and suckling. Fever should also alert. To limit the spread of the virus and protect your child, the strict application of barrier gestures is essential: Public Health France recommends regular hand washing and ventilation.
Source: BFM TV
