Dr. Martín Navarro, Professor of Pediatrics and Corresponding Fellow at the Royal College of Medicine of Seville, provides key to the impact of this new public health strategy to address the bronchiolitis epidemic.
–What is bronchiolitis?
– This is an acute respiratory infection that fundamentally affects the bronchi, especially their thinnest branches, the bronchioles. This infection usually affects children under the age of two. The main biological agent causing the disease is respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Other viruses, such as influenza, can also cause bronchiolitis, but much less frequently.
-When will it happen?
– Seasonality is one of the main characteristics of bronchiolitis. Outbreaks typically begin in October and last until early spring. It represents an overburden of care at primary care and hospital levels.
-symptom?
– Usually starts with a common cold: Babies start with a runny nose, cough, and fever, and sometimes these symptoms last about a week. But in other cases, symptoms worsen after a cold and the child begins to have trouble breathing, which can be confirmed by seeing the ribs when the baby breathes. Breathing is also noisy, accompanied by wheezing sounds, commonly known as whistling. This occurs because affected children have an infection that causes the bronchi and bronchioles to become inflamed and produce large amounts of mucus. Many children require hospitalization or even ICU admission. Bronchiolitis is the leading cause of hospitalization in children under two years of age. Once an acute episode is over, children are prone to recurring bronchitis and asthma throughout their lives.
– What are the advantages of new monoclonal antibodies?
– RSV, like other viruses, lacks effective treatments. This new monoclonal antibody is not a vaccine (because it is not an attenuated virus), but represents an amazing therapeutic advance due to its effectiveness and lack of side effects. In addition, it only requires a single dose and can be administered on an outpatient basis, unlike the antibodies we currently have (palivizumab) which are only used in high-risk children, such as premature infants, low birth weight newborns, severe congenital heart disease, Photophobia, cysts and other serious lesions. It is administered at the hospital level and takes about five doses to be effective.
——What impact will this have?
– As new antibodies become available, fewer children will be visiting emergency rooms, health centers and inpatient wards during the pandemic. As a specialist and pediatric pulmonologist, I encourage families to accept the idea of protecting their children from this disease through the use of monoclonal antibodies, but be aware that hygiene measures must be maintained at all times: frequent hand washing, especially for those caring for children Here’s your drink; All adults with colds should wear a mask when in contact with children under two years old; keep children’s rooms well ventilated; and avoid passive inhalation of tobacco smoke.
– How do you rate the activities being launched in Andalusia?
– In Andalusia we will start immunization against respiratory syncytial virus on Monday. It should make us proud because it is a great therapeutic advancement. Pediatricians have been waiting for years for a drug to combat the virus.