This is news that concerns health authorities as winter approaches. Ten regions of France are currently on red alert for “epidemic phase” of bronchiolitis, according to a publication by Public health France, Wednesday November 8. The latter is, however, less early than last year. Caused by a respiratory virus, the disease can cause breathing difficulties in infants, although most cases are mild.
During the week of November 5, “the activity linked to bronchiolitis was significantly increasing in France”, details Public Health France (SPF). One of the big questions for health authorities: the ability of Beyfortus, Sanofi’s new preventive treatment, to succeed in stemming the phenomenon.
Only Corsica remains spared from this annual epidemic. Last year, bronchiolitis caused an unprecedented epidemic in more than a decade, sending tens of thousands of infants to hospital.