The annual epidemic, which particularly affects babies, is looming in new French territories with the passage of a new region, Hauts-de-France, in pre-epidemic, Public Health France said on Wednesday, November 6.
Bronchiolitis is gaining ground in mainland France. This respiratory disease, caused by the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), affects 30% of infants under 2 years old each year and results in thousands of hospitalizations. The epidemic started in France and is spreading in France as winter approaches: according to Santé Publique France, after Ile-de-France and Brittany, Hauts-de-France has now gone into pre-epidemic phase. In the overseas departments, Guadeloupe and Martinique have been affected since the end of October and Guyana since the end of July.
1,740 children under 2 years old went to the emergency room in mainland France for bronchiolitis between October 28 and November 3 and 542 – almost all babies aged under 1 year – were hospitalized. This is more than the previous week. “Indicators linked to bronchiolitis were increasing in community medicine as well as in hospitals”specifies Public Health France. But good news: they stay “at levels lower than those observed in the three years prior to the same period.”
Two preventive treatments available
It must be said that this bronchiolitis season is marked by the hope of reducing the most serious and fatal forms of the disease: two preventive treatments exist, one for babies, the other for future mothers. Beyfortus from AstraZeneca and Sanofi is an antibody given directly to infants. For pregnant women, there is a vaccine, Pfizer's Abrysvo, which can be administered to them before birth.
The first was already available last year: administered to 250,000 children, it prevented between 76% and 81% of serious forms of the disease and avoided 5,800 hospitalizations, including more than 4,000 in children aged two. months and less, according to calculations from two studies by Public Health France and the Pasteur Institute. The vaccine for pregnant women is new this year and gives a choice to parents who are hesitant to immunize their baby with an injection of Beyfortus. According to clinical trials supported by the laboratory, published in the New England Journal of Medicineit helps reduce severe respiratory infections linked to RSV by more than 81% in the three months following birth, and almost 70% at six months.
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, their entourage and caregivers. Cases of influenza detected in mainland France still remain “sporadic”while Reunion has been affected by an epidemic since the end of September. As for Covid, the latest wave continues to diminish, given the data from medical offices, hospitals, wastewater, and even deaths.
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