Yasmina Kattou, curated by Juliette Moreau Alvarez
06:25, 09 October 2022modified in
07:33, 09 October 2022
As winter approaches, the number of cases of bronchiolitis continues to increase in France. This acute respiratory infection particularly affects children. Almost 1,500 emergency visits have already been recorded in one week, more than double compared to the seasons prior to Covid.
Watch out for your kids because bronchiolitis is circulating at the beginning of the year again this year. Five regions are in the pre-epidemic stage: Normandy, Hauts-de-France, New Aquitaine, Île-de-France and Occitania. This virus affects nearly 500,000 children each year. Since September, cases of bronchiolitis in hospital have increased by 41%.
Simple actions to limit the circulation of the disease
We are not yet in the epidemic phase but Santé Publique France warns and fears an epidemic like last year. Delphine Viriot, epidemiologist at Santé Publique France, launches the alert: “For the whole month of September, syndromic indicators have increased with 299 medical procedures this week. And at the hospital level, this week we have 1,491 visits to the emergency room, more than the double as high as that which was usually observed simultaneously in the seasons leading up to the coronavirus pandemic COVID-19.”
According to Delphine Viriot, an epidemic could hit the tip of her nose. “We can say that the bundles of elements currently collected are favorable to an increase in the circulation of the virus upstream of the start of a potential epidemic that would be imminent.” To limit the circulation of the disease, there are simple gestures to be adopted, such as “barrier gestures, in particular washing hands, wearing a mask and regularly ventilating the rooms”, lists the epidemiologist. Finally, “ask a person with a cold or the flu to postpone his visit to the family,” she concludes.
