This Monday, pediatricians asked everyone who comes in contact with babies and children to wash their hands and wear a mask if they have flu-like symptoms to prevent babies from catching the respiratory infections that are clogging emergency rooms and hospitals.
The medical coordinator of pediatrics at the D. Estefania Hospital in Lisbon, Luis Varandas, and the pediatrician Manuel Magalhães from the Pediatric Pulmonology Department of the Centro Materno Infantil do Norte (CMI) told Lusa this Monday that the emergency departments are overcrowded and there are many children hospitalized with the respiratory syncytial virus RSV , which causes most bronchiolitis, but they noted that this is a common situation at this time of year.
“This is a situation that we are used to facing every year,” as the virus circulates from November to March, causing many illnesses in children, many respiratory infections, in most cases requiring hospitalization, Manuel Magalhães said.
According to the pediatrician, the peak incidence this year occurred “a little earlier”: “In the Northern Center for Mother and Child, since mid-October, we have consistently had more than 10 beds occupied every day by children with RSV bronchiolitis.”
D. Estefania Children’s Hospital is also “completely overwhelmed,” with the emergency department seeing more than 300 cases daily, Louis Varandas said, noting that winter “usually” sees such a surge in respiratory infections.
“Hospitalizations are completely full, there are additional beds and this already requires a huge effort on the part of all professionals, especially nurses who need to care for many more patients,” said Louis Varandas.
Faced with this reality, pediatricians are calling for non-drug preventative measures similar to those used during the pandemic to avoid children becoming infected: regularly washing hands, wearing masks if a person has flu-like symptoms, and cleaning and ventilating rooms.
“In the same way, if the child is sick, avoid visiting nurseries or kindergartens,” said Manuel Magalhães, emphasizing that RSV has “a big impact not only on pediatrics, but also on older people, which ultimately puts a lot of pressure.” on the entire healthcare system and on families.”
He advised parents not to take their children to shopping centers and indoor spaces, where viruses circulate “much more intensively,” but to walk in the fresh air: the air temperature and cold do not make them sick.”
According to Manuel Magalhães, RSV requires babies to spend at least one to two weeks at home, during which time they often have to go to the emergency room two, three, four times, forcing parents to miss work.
To minimize this impact, doctors are trying to raise awareness among policymakers to create standards that will make life easier for parents.
Louis Varandas, in turn, urged parents not to take their children to the emergency room if the respiratory infection has mild symptoms.
“It’s not worth going to the emergency room” because by spending hours in the waiting room, they risk contracting another respiratory infection, and the cycle perpetuates itself and is difficult to break unless the behavior is changed.
The coordinator emphasized that the clinical symptoms of RSV and influenza are “much more severe before the age of one year” and that this leads to numerous hospitalizations.
“We have a lot of hospitalizations, and we even have cases where children have to be transferred” to prevent them from becoming infected by children with RSV or flu admitted to the same unit.
This weekend, patients were transferred from surgical to medical wards, requiring bed arrangements, further exacerbating the problem.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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