Reunion Island Health Assessment: Bronchiolitis, Covid-19, Flu, and Leptospirosis Update

2024-01-19 09:23:38

Reunion Island remains in a bronchiolitis epidemic for the week of January 8 to 14, 2024 (week 2 of the year). The viral circulation of Covid-19 continues to decline, and flu indicators continue to decline. Concerning gastroenteritis, Reunion remains in the post-epidemic phase with stable indicators. The authorities are also calling for vigilance during yard and garden cleaning activities following the cyclone, due to the risk of leptospirosis. We publish the results below (Photo illustration rb/www.imazpress.com)

• Leptospirosis

The heavy rains linked to the passage of Cyclone Belal favor the leaching of soils and the contamination of environments by leptospires. It is recommended to use personal protective equipment (gloves, boots, etc.) and to protect wounds before yard and garden cleaning activities, and to clean them with drinking water and disinfect them followingwards. It is also recommended to postpone activities in fresh water (swimming).

For health professionals, it is recommended to biologically confirm any suspicion in the event of activities at risk of contamination in the 3 weeks preceding the signs and to declare any biologically documented case to the ARS, using the Cerfa declaration mandatory An environmental investigation at the home of each case is then carried out by the ARS in order to document their risk exposures and put in place prevention and management measures adapted on a case-by-case basis.

• Covid-19

The viral circulation of COVID-19 continues to decline at the start of the year. The positivity rate (TP) for Covid-19 was decreasing for the first time in H01 following 7 weeks of progression.

In H02, the TP for Covid-19 continued to decline with a rate of 21% compared to 29% the previous week. This drop affected all age groups. In the emergency room, consultations for reasons of COVID-19 were also decreasing with a difference of 56% between S01 and S02. Hospitalizations following emergency consultation were also down between W01 and W02.

• Flu

In S 02, visits to the emergency room due to influenza-like illness were stable. The emergency department recorded 11 visits for reasons of influenza syndrome in S 02 compared to 10 the previous week. No hospitalization was recorded in S 02 for reasons of
flu syndrome as in S 01. The share of emergency activity for flu reasons remained low and represented less than 1% of total activity.

Virological surveillance identifies in S 02 a circulation of type A(H1N 1) influenza. The positivity rate was increasing with 10 tests positive for influenza viruses in S 02 compared to 7 in S 01.

In view of the epidemiological data, Reunion was not in the context of an epidemic.

• Epidemics of bronchiolitis

Visits to the emergency room for bronchiolitis in children under 2 years old fluctuate and start to rise once more in S 02 compared to the previous week. In W 02, 71 children aged under 2 years were in the emergency room for bronchiolitis versus 62 in W 01.

The number of new hospitalizations increased in S 02 with 30 hospitalizations compared to 23 hospitalizations in S 01.

The share of visits to the emergency room for bronchiolitis among all visits of children under two years old increased to 19.5% in S 02 compared to 14.3% in S 01.

Concerning virological surveillance, the positivity rate for RSV among those under two years old was stable at 49 in S 02 (vs 50 in
S 01 with co-circulation of RSV type A and RSV type B.

Reunion Island remains in an epidemic of bronchiolitis at the start of 2024

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