Bronchiolitis is highly contagious and affects many infants under the age of 2 every winter. Although the risk of hospitalization and death remains low, this infection poses a significant public health challenge.
In response, Santé publique France has operated a surveillance program in France since July 2004 and implements prevention measures to limit the spread of the disease.

Epidemiological Surveillance of Bronchiolitis

Since early July 2004, Santé publique France has established a system for collecting data from emergency departments (OSCOUR Network—Organization for Coordinated Emergency Surveillance).
The objective of this surveillance system is to analyze the use of emergency departments in two ways:

• quantitatively (number of patients)

• and qualitatively (medical cause of the visit, patient age, post-emergency care, etc.).

The results of this work may trigger an alert if necessary.

Data is routinely transmitted automatically to Santé Publique France based on information collected by hospital teams. The recorded data includes: age, gender, reason for visit, severity score, medical diagnosis, and the patient’s discharge destination from the emergency department.

Santé publique France also relies on data transmitted by SOS Médecins for the surveillance of bronchiolitis.

During the bronchiolitis epidemic season, Santé publique France produces a weekly epidemiological bulletin on the state of the epidemiological situation in France.

Preventive measures against bronchiolitis

Santé publique France informs the general public about appropriate preventive measures to reduce the risk of infection by bronchiolitis viruses and other winter viruses, either through media campaigns or by distributing specific resources.