Bronchiolitis: Ile-de-France, Guadeloupe and Martinique enter epidemic phase

The annual epidemic has begun. Bronchiolitis, a disease that mainly affects infants, is on the rise in France, from where it has spread to the Paris region as well as Guadeloupe and Martinique, public health authorities said Wednesday. The past week (October 2 to 8) marked the “transition into the epidemic phase of Ile-de-France, Guadeloupe and Martinique” for bronchiolitis, Public Health France said in its weekly report.

“In this context, it is necessary to be especially vigilant and apply barrier measures in the presence of children under 2 years of age,” the agency warns. These measures include not taking the child into a public, confined place or passing the child from hand to hand at family gatherings.

Bronchiolitis, most commonly caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), causes difficulty breathing in infants. It is usually not serious, but can lead to an emergency room visit and hospitalization.

Early start

Last season, the epidemic reached proportions unprecedented in more than a decade, with tens of thousands of babies stranded in hospitals in constant crisis and already battling Covid and influenza. However, this year’s numbers are “comparable to the two years preceding the same period, reflecting the early onset of bronchiolitis-related activity,” the SPF said.

One of the big questions of the season is whether launching a large-scale infant immunization campaign using the Sanofi laboratory’s preventive treatment, Bayfortus, will be effective in reducing hospitalizations. A victim of its own success, this treatment is now left in maternity hospitals awaiting new supplies.

France’s public health service, which now simultaneously publishes data on the prevalence of bronchiolitis, influenza and Covid, also reported a decline in the figure after a wave in recent weeks. However, among older people, and therefore the most vulnerable, we continue to see a “small increase in hospitalizations.” The Covid vaccination campaign, targeting people at risk, was launched in early October, days before the flu campaign. In the latter, the disease persists in isolated “sporadic” cases.