A first preventive treatment against serious forms of bronchiolitis can now be injected into newborns. This respiratory virus affects a third of children under the age of one each year.
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“If it can limit the risk of hospitalization it will always be a win, confides Angelina, mother of Vigo, a two-day-old newborn. She did not hesitate to have her baby immunized against the virus responsible for bronchiolitis, at the maternity ward of the Caen University Hospital (Calvados). From Friday September 15, health professionals have the possibility of injecting all babies with the first existing preventive treatment against bronchiolitis: Beyfortus. This respiratory virus affects a third of children under the age of one each year. It particularly causes very serious cases in newborns.
>> Bronchiolitis: what you need to know about preventive treatment now available in France
Beyfortus – developed by the Sanofi and Astrazeneca laboratories – is not a vaccine but a monoclonal antibody, injectable into all children born since February 2023. It can be administered in town, by pediatricians, midwives and liberal nurses, but also in maternity for newborns.
Angelina’s baby is sleeping soundly. He has just received a Beyfortus injection in his thigh. The monoclonal antibody should protect against severe forms of bronchiolitis for six months, that is to say throughout the winter epidemic. “We know that it will not necessarily prevent him from being sick, but at least allow him to be less sick.”explains his mother.
45,000 hospitalizations last winter
On Friday, pediatricians visit all the rooms of the maternity ward to offer parents this preventive treatment for their newborn. There is no obligation, but it is very well received, says Anne-Sophie Trentesaux, head of the neonatology department: “For the moment, with all those to whom we presented the project there has been no refusal. It is 100% support and no opposition.”
Last winter, the bronchiolitis epidemic caused 45,000 hospitalizations. The pediatric and intensive care units had been completely saturated. Infants had to be transferred from one region to another due to a lack of available beds. With Beyfortus, doctors’ hope is to see fewer babies in the hospital this winter.