Bustle in the pediatric ward of the Bravis hospital in Bergen op Zoom. This week many young children have been admitted with respiratory infections due to a cold virus that normally only occurs in the winter. “We have not seen this before,” said hospital spokesman Jan Willem van Bodegom.
“All twenty beds in the pediatric nursing department were occupied this week, which normally does not happen around this time,” says Van Bodegom. The patients who have so far stayed in the hospital were toddlers and preschoolers. He does not have the exact numbers ready, because they vary from day to day.
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The respiratory infection causes severe shortness of breath in children. They are treated in the nursing ward. No one had to be monitored in the intensive care unit. That’s what the hospital says.
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It is not known whether it concerns the dangerous RS virus among the young children in Bergen op Zoom. It was announced on Friday that this virus has broken out in the Rotterdam region. Infants in particular can become very ill due to inflammation in the small airways.
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“We cannot say for sure, because our hospital does not specifically test for the RS virus. So it could also be other cold viruses that cause problems in children,” the spokesperson said. When asked, the Amphia hospital in Breda says that it has not admitted children with the RS virus.
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Pediatricians in Bravis call the cold virus ‘special’ around the summer period. It would have everything to do with the 1.5 meters away that people have kept due to the corona measures. As a result, people did not build up immunity to the virus last winter.
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Van Bodegom: “Naturally, the crèches were also closed for a long time. Normally, children sit closer together and thus build up more resistance.”
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According to the pediatricians, it is best for parents to be extra vigilant when their children have a cold. Especially when it comes to babies under two months.
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