Hospitals have reported, since the end of September, 35 cases of hospitalization of children up to 2 years of age due to Respiratory Syncytial Virus, an infection that has had a growing trend in recent weeks, according to the Ricardo Jorge Institute.
“35 cases of hospitalization due to RSV infection were reported [Vírus Sincicial Respiratório] in children under 24 months in the sentinel surveillance network since week 40/2024 [início de outubro]“A growing trend has been observed in recent weeks,” states the most recent epidemiological surveillance bulletin of influenza and other respiratory viruses from the Ricardo Jorge National Health Institute (INSA).
According to the document referring to last week, released this Thursday, of the total number of hospitalized children, “40% were less than or equal to 3 months old, 26.7% of the children were premature and 8.6% of the “Hospitalized children (3 children) were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit or required ventilation.”
Since September 30, the beginning of the surveillance season, 66 cases of hospitalization due to acute respiratory infection (ARI) have also been reported in sentinel networks in mainland Portugal.
Last week, 15 cases of ARI were analyzed and one positive case of influenza and another of RSV were detected. No positive cases of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the Covid-19 disease, were detected.
Of the seven samples positive for influenza since the beginning of the surveillance season, two are of subtype A (H3) and five of type B (four of the Victoria lineage). The influenza type B virus was detected in 71.4% of influenza cases.
188 cases of ARI have already been analyzed and seven (3.7%) cases of influenza were detected, five (71.4%) of type B and two (28.6%) of type A. Eight (4.0%) were identified %) cases. of SARS-CoV-2 and two (1.1%) positive cases for RSV.
Other respiratory viruses were also detected in 100 ARI cases, including 61 rhinoviruses (hRV), 16 coronaviruses (hCoV), seven parainfluenza viruses (PIV), two respiratory syncytial viruses (RSV), two adenoviruses (AdV) and 16 enteroviruses. (HEV), nine of which are enteroviruses D68.
Since the beginning of the surveillance season, the hospitals of the Portuguese Network of Laboratories for the Diagnosis of Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses have recorded 14,165 cases of respiratory infection and identified 394 cases of influenza.
Between November 11 and 17, 86 positive cases of the influenza virus were identified, of which 78 were type B and eight were type A. In two of the cases, subtype A(H1)pdm09 was identified. Other respiratory agents were also identified in 222 cases, with viruses from the picornavirus group being the most frequently detected.
Last week “a greater number of RSV cases were detected compared to previous weeks.”
Since September 30, three cases of co-detection of the flu virus and SARS-CoV-2 have also been reported. At this time, other respiratory agents were identified in 1,379 cases.
The report also indicates that “51 cases of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) were admitted to hospitals, with an incidence rate” of 6.6 per 100,000 inhabitants, showing a stable trend.
Children up to four years old were the ones with the highest incidence.
Last week, no flu hospitalizations were reported in the 16 Intensive Care Units (ICU) “that sent information,” remaining stable compared to the previous week.
More than 10,000 children have been vaccinated against RSV in mainland Portugal, according to the General Directorate of Health (DGS).
The campaign began on October 15, 2024 and will extend until March 31, 2025, seeking to cover the immunization of newborns during this period in maternity hospitals in the public, private and social sectors or of children with risk factors.
Source: Observadora
