The simultaneity of three waves of infection affects parents who are troubled by Corona. The medical profession and pharmacists must clarify.
The four-year-old boy and his older sister have a bad cough. The pediatrician can only be reached by email. He replied that he could only deal with really serious cases, reports his father from Offenbach. A Frankfurt resident received three cancellations from representation and ended up accompanying his six-year-old daughter to the emergency room of a hospital, where she had to wait seven hours. “She had a high fever for three days, I didn’t know what else to do.”
heavy winter
The situation in Hesse’s pediatric practices and children’s clinics is tense, as everywhere in Germany. “Everyone works to the limit,” says Ralf Moebus, president of the Hessian Professional Association of Pediatricians. It was a “heavy winter” and very unusual.
Three waves of infection coincide, caused by rhinovirus, RS virus and too early influenza. According to the Robert Koch Institute, the RSV wave is slowly ebbing away, Moebus reports. “But with the flu, the numbers are skyrocketing in children ages zero to four.”
The new toilet paper
Another reason, says Moebus, is the low availability of pediatricians in the country. Like many colleagues, he has ordered a freeze on admissions for new patients for his practice in Bad Homburg – with exceptions for the chronically ill, infants, emergencies.
Respiratory Synzytial Virus (RSV)
The transfer occurs in particular through droplet infection, it is also possible through hands, objects and surfaces.
infections it can occur at any age – with no symptoms, such as simple respiratory infections, but also more serious ones. Typical are initially symptoms of the upper respiratory tract such as runny nose, cough, sore throat. During this, there is often a harder cough, faster breathing, whistling on exhalation, or shortness of breath. Breathing pauses are possible in premature babies.
The notice known hygiene practices (washing hands, coughing and sneezing into the crook of the arm, cleaning contaminated objects) can minimize the spread. legal
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And then there are the parents: “We have made them so insecure in the Corona situation, they immediately assume the worst.” An infection is not a sign of weakness, but rather trains the immune system. “Most children can cope well with fever, but their parents can’t because they are very worried.”
A real problem, says Holger Seyfarth. And what he, as president of the state association of pharmacists, has been reporting to state policy for years. “There was a shortage of breast cancer medicines in the spring. At the moment there are some antibiotics, fever and cough syrups for the children.” Due to price pressure, production has mainly been relocated to where supply chains are currently disrupted – to Asia.
That is why there are hamster purchases. Or as Seyfarth puts it, “Fever syrup is the new toilet paper.” This is understandable, but other sick children shouldn’t walk away empty-handed. “If we explain it to the mothers, then they will understand.” Conversations that cost the pharmacy staff more time. Moebus appeals to parents not to hoard over-the-counter medicines. “We are concerned about the lack of painkillers and antipyretic drugs for children in the preparation of the juices,” he said these days after an interview with Hessian Health Minister Kai Klose (Greens). On Friday in Wiesbaden he assured him that he would take the situation seriously and would keep an eye on it. “The large number of illnesses affects the staff who are already particularly stressed after almost three years of the corona pandemic.”
There is no end in sight soon. Moebus assumes that the peak has not yet been reached. He has been a freelancer for a quarter of a century. In his experience, things only really get busy at the beginning of the year: “Pediatricians have more work to do in January.”
