News

Monitoring of Emergency Department Activity:

Late last week, a hospital in the region reported to the ARS that it was struggling to cope with an influx of elderly patients in the emergency department. This week, other hospitals have reported similar difficulties. While daily indicators by department did not reveal any particular strain, weekly totals by facility showed clear increases in the admission and hospitalization of patients in this age group. Furthermore, even though certain indicators remain below the statistical threshold defined for the indicator and the geographic area, the analyses show that patient numbers have been rising for several days.

Monitoring of seasonal illnesses:

• Influenza: All indicators related to influenza show that the epidemic is spreading in Languedoc-Roussillon. The incidence rate estimated by the unified network of Sentinelles and Grog has risen sharply, as have visits to emergency departments and requests for assistance from SOS Médecins associations. A new influenza information system is now available (grippenet.fr)

• Gastroenteritis: Although visits to emergency rooms have decreased slightly, as have home visits by doctors from the SOS Médecins associations, case numbers remain relatively high, indicating that the epidemic is still active in the region.

• Bronchiolitis: visits to emergency departments have decreased this week, falling below the epidemic threshold, signaling the imminent end of the bronchiolitis epidemic among children under 2 years of age.