The bronchiolitis epidemic, which first strikes infants and is likely to be particularly marked this winter after a very protected year due to Covid-19, is spreading widely.
"The bronchiolitis epidemic now affects all regions of mainland France with the passage of Corsica in the epidemic phase", announced on Wednesday the French public health agency.
In children under 2 years of age, the main age group struck by bronchiolitis, the indicators remain at a "high level", specifies the agency, which for several weeks had reported a strong increase.
Read alsoBronchiolitis in Île-de-France: commotion in the fight against an outbreak of the epidemic
The epidemic, which spread three weeks in advance, first affected Île-de-France and Grand-Est, causing a surge in admissions to pediatric wards.
Last week, Brittany went from the pre-epidemic phase to the epidemic phase, this is the case this week for Corsica.
More than one in three children hospitalized
Between 1 and 7 November, of the 4,100 children under the age of 2 who came to the emergency room with bronchiolitis, 89% (3,652) were under one year of age.
As in the previous week, more than one in three children (35%) were hospitalized and most of them were all under a year old, proof that the epidemic is affecting the youngest children the most.
A common and highly contagious disease that frightens parents a lot, bronchiolitis causes babies to cough and difficult, rapid, wheezing.
Most of the time benign, it can however require a visit to the emergency room, even hospitalization, if it degenerates into respiratory distress, or require physiotherapy care.
Last winter, confinements and anti-Covid barrier gestures helped block all viruses, including RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), responsible for bronchiolitis, and seasonal flu.
The children were less infected than usual and therefore have less collective immunity, raising fears of a stronger epidemic this year.