Highlights

• Compared to the previous week, the number of bronchiolitis diagnoses in children under two years of age increased slightly in week 43 for the SOS Médecins Strasbourg association (11 diagnoses in week 43 vs. 6 in week 42). However, this trend needs to be confirmed in the coming weeks. Furthermore, this situation is not observed for the SOS Médecins Mulhouse association, where the number of bronchiolitis diagnoses in children under two years of age remains low (2 diagnoses in week 43). This condition thus accounts for 6.3% of the Bas-Rhin association’s caseload among children under two years of age and 2.5% of the Haut-Rhin association’s caseload.

• Nationally, the epidemiological situation shows an increase in the number of cases of bronchiolitis presenting at OSCOUR® network emergency facilities and SOS Médecins associations, with comparable numbers and a similar trend to those recorded last year during the same period. Bronchiolitis outbreaks among infants generally begin in October, reach an initial peak before the All Saints’ Day holidays, then rise again to reach the epidemic peak in late December before the Christmas holidays.

• Regarding the regional surveillance of gastroenteritis and diarrhea, the number of weekly diagnoses has tended to increase over the past three weeks for the SOS Médecins association in Strasbourg, which is not the case for the association in Mulhouse, where the number of diagnoses has varied little. In week 43, these conditions accounted for nearly 10% of the total activity of the two associations. These figures fall within the fluctuations typically observed during this season.

• According to available data, no unusual increase in mortality has been observed in Alsace over the past few weeks. Since the time lag in reporting death data exceeds 7 days, data for week 43 are currently being consolidated.