Hauts-de-France is on pre-epidemic vigilance for bronchiolitis, Public Health France announced this Wednesday, November 6.
This winter epidemic, on the other hand, has already started in Île-de-France.
Last year, more than 26,000 babies were hospitalized for this respiratory infection.
Bronchiolitis is expected to strike again this winter. The epidemic, which mainly affects babies, is emerging in new parts of France with the passage of a new region, Hauts-de-France, in pre-epidemic, Public Health France indicated this Wednesday, November 6 .
Île-de-France is the first region to suffer the epidemic in mainland France, where Brittany also went pre-epidemic at the end of October in the face of the increase in cases.
Two treatments deployed against bronchiolitis
The week ended November 4, “syndromic indicators linked to bronchiolitis were increasing in community medicine as well as in hospitals”more “by remaining at levels lower than those observed in the three years prior to the same period”specified the health agency. Overseas, Guadeloupe and Martinique have been affected by the epidemic since the end of October and Guyana since the end of July.
Every year, during the fall and winter, bronchiolitis strikes many French newborns, most often following an infection with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) which can also threaten the elderly. 1,740 children under the age of two went to the emergency room for bronchiolitis from October 28 to November 3, and 542 – almost all babies under the age of one – were hospitalized, more than the previous week.
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.
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Public Health France also took stock of the evolution of Covid and seasonal flu, against which a combined vaccination campaign began in mid-October for people at risk, but also for those around them and caregivers. For the flu, the cases detected in mainland France still remain “sporadic”while Reunion has been affected by an epidemic since the end of September.
The latest wave of Covid continues to decline, given the data from city medicine, hospitals, wastewater and even deaths (2.9% of the 5,825 deaths declared by electronic certificate, compared to 3.3% a week ago).
