The bronchiolitis epidemic has declined sharply for a week in the country, indicates Public Health France in its weekly bulletin this Wednesday, January 12.
Of the 1,885 children under two seen in the emergency room for bronchiolitis from January 3 to 9, 762 (38%) were hospitalized. 93% of these hospitalizations concerned children under one year of age.
These figures are down from the previous week. Thus, the number of emergency room visits for cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) fell by 46% in one week, and that of hospitalizations fell by 43%.
The epidemic is considered to be over in Ile-de-France, Hauts-de-France and Normandy are in the post-epidemic phase, while the rest of the metropolitan territory remains in the epidemic phase.
A situation dimetrically opposed to that currently going through the British hospital system, for example. Scientific experts from the British Lung Foundation say immunity to RSV has likely dropped due to restrictions put in place against Covid across the Channel. In the past three months, more than 1,000 children infected with the virus have been hospitalized.
The RSV winter virus is common in babies and children under two years old and can cause breathing problems and hospitalizations if it develops into bronchiolitis, a more serious lung infection that affects the small airways in the lungs (called bronchioles). .