Bronchiolitis in children is starting to subside, and hospitals are already preparing for the flu in adults

The wave of bronchiolitis in children (especially in children under one year old) reached its peak, which was expected for November 29, and a downward trend” in Catalonia. hospitals like Hebron Valley (Barcelona) and Sant Joan de Deu (Esplugues de Llobregat) are already noticing this, even if the download is “slow” and there is still “high intensity” work.

“It’s actually been a few days where there are already a bit of a slowdown and the peak started to plateau,” says Maria Jose Abadias, assistant director of care in Vall d’Hebron. The trend, he says, is “down”, in general, in all respiratory infections in children. But more precisely in bronchiolitis, which in recent weeks has saturated the emergency rooms and the pediatric UCIS of Catalan hospitals.

Health centers, however, they are still full. They haven’t started emptying yet. But, for two days, the balance “is positive”. “We are already giving higher than income upstairs in the hospital. And the pressure on pediatric intensive care stabilized a bit,” explains Abadías.

“We we start to descend a bit. But we have stretched the rope for so long that it overflows with very little, ”explains the nurse from Sant Joan de Déu Luisa Claramunt. The wave of bronchiolitis, he says, began to fade “at the beginning of the week”. “But we still have a lot of work to do, everything is still saturated, adds Claramunt.

Wave of more intensity

This year’s pediatric bronchiolitis epidemic has been much stronger than that of the pre-covid years. Doctors attribute this to young children they were not immune Because in the past two years, almost no other respiratory virus other than covid has circulated.

“The earring [de la bronquiolitis en niños] has been similar to that of the first wave of covid. It was all right, one extreme verticality”, Abadías explains. Indeed, if the peak before covid-19 was around 1,200 cases per day in Catalonia, this time it came to “double”.

This has led hospitals like Vall d’Hebron to “reorganize” their “more classic” emergency plan. The center’s pediatric emergencies continue “with a lot of work” for this disease, but doctors hope things will calm down from next week, when children are on long weekends and away from school, which will reduce infections.

Goodbye bronchiolitis, hello flu

And then the flu in adults “It usually starts three weeks later pediatric bronchiolitis. Today we officially launched our adult winter plan”, emphasizes Abadías. This plan consists of a device reinforcement in case of emergency (with more staff) and the opening of the first and second floors of the Garbí building, from December 1, for patients with non-covid respiratory infections.

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At the moment, neither the flu nor covid-19 in adults has much “repercussion” on a cynical level nor in the resources of Vall d’Hebron. But the forecast is that there will be “more flu” than last year, although adults have “more immunological memory” than children. “We expect a bunch of more flu and more covid”, Abadías value.

the covid19, Right now it behaves in most people like “a cold”. But vulnerable people, especially those immunocompromised They are at risk of becoming seriously ill. “You have to be very careful. Mask and hand hygiene”, Abadías concludes.

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