News

Hospital Activity Update:

At the start of the week, hospitals in coastal departments were still under significant strain. Although the situation appears to have stabilized in some facilities, others continue to see a large number of patients arriving in the emergency room. Furthermore, while the strain initially stemmed from a large influx of patients over the age of 75, visits and hospitalizations of children under 1 year of age are now also on the rise (with some thresholds being exceeded in the Gard and Aude departments), with the main causes of visits being gastroenteritis, bronchiolitis, and ENT infections. This overuse of pediatric emergency departments is also significant in the Hérault, even though the indicators have not exceeded the thresholds.

Monitoring of seasonal illnesses:

• Influenza: The unified network of Sentinelles and Grog physicians estimated the regional incidence rate at 1,225 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in week 2012-08, compared to 800 the previous week. Visits to emergency departments and requests to SOS Médecins remain high. Three severe cases of influenza requiring intensive care were reported in week 8 and one in week 9. The number of reports of clusters of acute respiratory infections in nursing homes remains high, and an analysis has been conducted on this specific issue.

• Gastroenteritis: The Sentinelles network estimates that the incidence rate for acute diarrhea rose above the national epidemic threshold in week 2012-08, with 452 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to a threshold of 243 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Note that gastroenteritis was the leading cause of emergency department visits among children under 2 years of age over the past two weeks.

• Bronchiolitis: The number of cases diagnosed in emergency departments has remained below the statistical threshold defined for the region for the second consecutive week, signaling the end of the bronchiolitis epidemic.