This Friday, October 21, 12 regions – including Occitania – were placed in the epidemic phase of bronchiolitis by the health authorities. In the Paris region, certain pediatric services, already overwhelmed, have transferred small patients.
The bronchiolitis epidemic continues to gain ground in France. In one week, nearly 3,000 children under the age of 2 went through the emergency room. A figure which continues to increase and which has prompted the health authorities to place eight new regions in the epidemic phase.
12 regions, including Occitania, in the epidemic phase
This Friday, October 21, the regions are concerned: OccitaniaAuvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Burgundy-Franche-Comté, Brittany, Centre-Val de Loire, Grand Est, Guyana, Normandy, Pays de la Loire, Hauts-de-France, Île-de-France and New Aquitaine.
In the Paris region, the lack of beds in the pediatric departments of hospitals has forced caregivers to transfer certain young patients to other hospitals in the provinces, sometimes more than 200 kilometers from their parents’ home.
The Minister of Health, François Braun, went last Friday to the bedside and caregivers.
What symptoms and when to consult?
This year, the bronchiolitis epidemic is considered to be early by the Regional Health Agencies (ARS). This viral disease which affects the respiratory tract of infants is characterized by “an episode of respiratory discomfort whose signs are a cough and rapid and wheezing breathing”, specifies the Social Security site.
Symptoms can last for ten days. Public Health France advises parents not to systematically go to the emergency room, unless:
- The child is less than six weeks old
- He is a former preemie of less than three months
- He has a respiratory or heart disease
- He drinks less than half of his bottles at three consecutive meals
- He constantly vomits
- He sleeps constantly or cries unusually and cannot sleep
