THE ESSENTIAL
- Faced with an increase in emergencies and hospitalizations, five regions of France are in a pre-epidemic and seven in a bronchiolitis epidemic, while the flu epidemic is starting slowly.
- This year, a self-test detecting Covid, flu and bronchiolitis is available in pharmacies, and two preventive treatments against bronchiolitis are deployed: Beyfortus for infants and Abrysvo administered to pregnant women.
- Vaccination remains essential for populations at risk, particularly against influenza and Covid-19, recalls Public Health France.
They resurface every winter. The bronchiolitis epidemic continued to progress in France the week of November 18, while the flu epidemic started slowly, Public Health France announced in its latest weekly bulletin published Wednesday, November 27. Concerning bronchiolitis, five regions (Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Grand Est, Normandy, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Loire" rel="tag">Pays de la Loire) are now in pre-epidemic and seven are in epidemic (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Brittany, Centre-Val de Loire, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Ile-de-France and Hauts-de-France).
Bronchiolitis: more emergency room visits and hospitalizations
All bronchiolitis and flu indicators are climbing, especially in cities, although last week they remained at “their basic level” in the majority of regions, with the exception of the Île-de-France regions, which have already gone into pre-epidemic, and in Hauts-de-France and Normandy, which went into pre-epidemic this week.
In detail, Public Health France notes an increase in emergency visits (+2.6 points in one week) and hospitalizations (+3.8 points) of children under 2 years old due to bronchiolitis. Bronchiolitis is a virus that causes “a cough and rapid, wheezing breathing”specifies Health Insurance. The first days can be the most critical, especially in infants under 2 months old, with some rare cases requiring hospitalization. The mortality rate in France is “less than 1%”according to the Ministry of Health.
Vaccinate populations at risk
This year is marked by the arrival of a triple detection self-test in pharmacies, accessible to adults and children from one month old: Covid, flu and bronchiolitis can thus be detected in a few seconds. Two preventive treatments against bronchiolitis in infants are also being deployed: Beyfortus from AstraZeneca and Sanofi, an antibody given directly to babies and which demonstrated its effectiveness spectacularly last year, and Abrysvo from Pfizer, a vaccine administered before birth to pregnant women and which protects the baby during the first six months of life.
Vaccination remains the best way to protect yourself against viral infections, says Public Health France. As a reminder, people over 65 years old, or suffering from co-morbidity, or pregnant, or immunocompromised, or residing in a medical establishment are invited to be vaccinated against flu and Covid-19. Note, moreover, that the coronavirus is currently seeing a drop in the number of emergency room visits and hospitalizations in France.
