Cases of bronchiolitis were rare in 2020-2021, in a context marked by multiple confinements, before rebounding strongly the following three seasons.
A lull after several years of tension. Visits to emergency rooms linked to the annual bronchiolitis epidemic, which particularly affects babies, continue to increase in France but remain for the moment at lower levels than the three previous years, Public Health France said on Wednesday, November 13.
Ile-de-France remains the only region to suffer the epidemic in mainland France, but three others – Brittany, Hauts-de-France and now Normandy – are in pre-epidemic, according to a weekly report on respiratory infections acute.
Contrasting statistics
Regarding the week of November 4 to 10, the statistics are contrasted with a stabilization of indicators linked to bronchiolitis in community medicine – which can “be transitory following school holidays” -, and at the same time ” a continued increase in visits to emergency rooms”, but with fewer hospitalizations as a result, said the health agency.
Among children under two years old, 1,659 went to the emergency room for bronchiolitis from November 4 to 10, and 458 of them – almost all babies aged under one year – were hospitalized.
On the hospital side, the levels linked to bronchiolitis remain “lower than those observed in the three years prior to the same period”, observed Public Health France.
For bronchiolitis, “the current dynamic seems similar to that observed at the same period during the seasons preceding the Covid pandemic”.
Cases of bronchiolitis were rare in 2020-2021, in a context marked by multiple confinements, before rebounding strongly the following three seasons.
Overseas, Guadeloupe and Martinique have been affected by the epidemic since the end of October, Guyana since the end of July.
Preventive treatments
This season is marked by the deployment of two preventive treatments, Beyfortus from AstraZeneca and Sanofi – an antibody given directly to babies – and Abrysvo from Pfizer – a vaccine administered before birth to pregnant women.
Beyfortus had already been the subject of an immunization campaign last year and studies agree to conclude that it limited the hospitalization of babies in France and in the few other countries where it was tested.
For the flu, cases detected in mainland France are still “sporadic”. Reunion, the only Overseas region hitherto in an epidemic phase, is emerging from it.
On the Covid side, a stabilization is emerging, given the data from city medicine, hospitals and even wastewater, after a decline in recent weeks.
A combined vaccination campaign against flu and Covid began in mid-October for people at risk, but also for their entourage and caregivers.
