While the annual bronchiolitis epidemic is currently affecting France, visits to emergency departments continue to increase in France, indicates Santé Publique France, Wednesday November 13, 2024.
Île-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 of respiratory infections acute.
Levels lower than those observed in the previous three years
The week from November 4 to 10 was mixed: a stabilization of indicators linked to bronchiolitis in community medicine – which can “be transitional following school holidays”-, et “a continued increase in emergency room visits”but with fewer hospitalizations at the end, specifies 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 preceding the same period”observes Public Health France.
Overseas, Guadeloupe and Martinique affected
For bronchiolitis, “the current dynamic seems similar to that observed at the same period during the seasons preceding the pandemic” of Covid.
Cases of bronchiolitis were rare in 2020-2021, in a context marked by multiple confinements, before rebounding strongly the following three seasons.
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Overseas, Guadeloupe and Martinique have been affected by the epidemic since the end of October, Guyana since the end of July. 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.
“Sporadic” cases of flu
For the flu, the 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.
