According to the latest bulletin from Public Health Europe, almost all of the metropolis is now in the epidemic phase.
According to the latest epidemiological bulletin Santé Publique Europe, published on October 26, the bronchiolitis epidemic has now spread to almost all of metropolitan Europe. Thus, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur joined the other regions that entered the epidemic phase last week. Only Corsica seems a little more spared for the moment and remains in the pre-epidemic phase.
Increase in emergency room visits
Last week, from October 17 to 23, no less than 4,311 young children under the age of 2 were seen in the emergency room, an increase of 43%. Among them, 3938 were less than 1 year old and 1405 had to be hospitalized.
The SOS doctors teams also had to perform nearly 798 medical treatments for bronchiolitis during this week.
The last few days have therefore been marked by an increase in hospitalizations and emergency room visits among children under 2 years of age.
What is infant bronchiolitis?
Caused by a highly contagious virus, respiratory syncytial virus, infant bronchiolitis can affect children from birth to their second year of life. It usually starts with a runny and stuffy nose. Then the child coughs more and more, before being embarrassed to breathe, with wheezing in the chest. The infant also has a fever and difficulty eating or sleeping.
Generally mild, bronchiolitis does not require any particular treatment, but some children may have breathing difficulties, which will require a visit to the emergency room and sometimes hospitalization.
The cases begin each year during the month of October, before experiencing a peak in December and then decreasing at the end of winter, towards the end of February. But since the health crisis linked to Covid, bronchiolitis appears earlier.
