According to the General Directorate of Health, each year 2 to 3% of infants under the age of one are hospitalized for bronchiolitis with approximately 45,000 hospitalizations associated with RSV on average per year from 2010 to 2018, including 69% in children. less than a year.
More broadly, bronchiolitis affects nearly 30% of infants under 2 years of age each winter, i.e. approximately 480,000 cases per year, and RSV is responsible for the majority of bronchiolitis. This is why the vaccine was long awaited.
The announcement of the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) which has just given a favorable opinion on the reimbursement of Beyfortus (nirsevimab), the preventive treatment directed against RSV and developed by Sanofi and AstraZeneca, will therefore allow young parents to no longer fear the start of the bronchiolitis epidemic season.
It’s not quite a vaccine
“This antibody will be available next September and could make it possible to extend the prevention of severe forms of RSV bronchiolitis, via a single injection, to all children living their first season of RSV circulation” explains the DGS in its statement of July 24 for doctors and pharmacists.
The treatment consists of injecting a single dose into the thigh of the baby just before the start of the epidemic season or at birth if the baby is born when the epidemic is already established. Even if it looks like a vaccine, it is rather called “preventive treatment” because it brings the antibodies directly to the infant and does not encourage his body to manufacture them.
The treatment will be available from September and will therefore be reimbursed. Even if the High Authority for Health considers that the actual benefit remains “moderate in the prevention of lower respiratory tract infections due to RSV in newborns and infants with or without risk factors”.
Source :Opinion of the High Authority for Health (HAS)August 1, 2023
