Bronchiolitis in infants

Bronchiolitis in infants: no panic!

Bronchiolitis in infants are often impressive. Yet experts point out that, in most cases, these respiratory infections recover within a few days without complications and without requiring hospitalization.

With the approach of winter, pediatric services are flocking first victims infants with bronchiolitis. The workload is such that at the height of the epidemic waves some hospitals are forced to use temporary staff. It is true that viral infection of the small airways (bronchioles) is extremely common: 500,000 babies, or nearly one third of children under two years are affected each year. But the use of hospitalization is often misused, as most of bronchiolitis are actually benign and easily cured at home. This is one of the conclusions outlined by the experts assembled by the Anaes, national agency for medical assessment to make recommendations on the management of this important public health problem.

Kine sis rather than drugs:

Bronchiolitis affects infants under two years and are mostly due to respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. Everything starts with a common cold, without much fever and no signs of concern. In five cases, the infection does not resolve spontaneously and is spreading to the bronchi and bronchioles, causing a thickening of the mucosa and an accumulation of secretions, which makes breathing difficult. Cough, faltering and the passage of air into the airways causes a whistling sound audible on auscultation and sometimes even to the ear.

What to do before the degenerates that cold? First consult your doctor and not go to hospital, experts said. In fact, hospitalization is required only rarely. Generally the difficulty breathing ceases in 8-10 days, although cough may persist a minor fortnight. The treatment resulted in two measures:

* A daily chest physiotherapy to help the child to cough up, if the doctor considers it necessary;
* The clearing of the nose by instillation of saline.

However, it is not necessary, except in special cases, administer antibiotics ineffective against viral infections, or cough medicine, the thinner bronchial or any other drug.

Too many hospitalizations:

Two out of three, parents take their child to the hospital. This type of initiative entails risks to bottle pediatric services and increase the risk of contagion, the authors lament. Hospitalization should be reserved for the most vulnerable children, including infants less than six weeks and those with signs of poor tolerance. In summary, parents should consult their doctor promptly if the baby no longer drinks his bottles, vomiting or diarrhea does not respond normally, becomes more and more out of breath, or if the fever rises. The doctor can then decide on a hospital to monitor the child and help him through this difficult period.

It is not uncommon for a baby to go through several bronchiolitis. From the third episode, we talk about asthma in infants. But this does not mean that the infant becomes a child with asthma. Indeed, the development of asthma is largely related to the existence of an allergic remind the experts. Bronchiolitis does not seem in itself to promoting effect.