Bronchiolitis prevention: what to do for your baby?
Bronchiolitis, a viral respiratory disease in 8 out of 10 cases, affects 30% of infants under the age of 2 every year,1 usually between mid-October and the end of winter, with a peak in November/December. With more than 70,000 emergency room visits and 26,000 hospitalizations 2during the 2022-2023 season, and 668 infants admitted to intensive care in 2023-2024, this infection affects all children, including those in good health3. In France, 87% of children hospitalized for bronchiolitis were born healthy, and young children under 8 months are the most affected. Death remains rare: it occurs in 2.6 cases per 100,000 infants under one year old.
Image source: Santé Publique France4
In this article, we offer an overview of the causes and consequences of bronchiolitis, and of course, the best practices to protect your baby.
What is bronchiolitis?
Bronchiolitis is a respiratory infection of the small bronchi, usually caused by the respiratory syncytial virus or RSV. It is very common and highly contagious, and all children are exposed to it. Adolescents and adults can carry it without any symptoms or with just a simple cold. The virus is transmitted through coughing, sneezing, or droplets. It can also survive on hands or objects, particularly toys or pacifiers.
Even though in most cases bronchiolitis heals within 5 to 10 days, young children, especially infants and newborns, can experience complications: RSV can attack their lungs (let’s remember that children's lungs develop until they are 7 years old), and severely infect their respiratory tract. The coughing intensifies, breathing becomes wheezy and rapid, and the child is affected in their daily life: difficulties breathing, eating, and sleeping. Bronchiolitis can also cause fever.
How to protect your child from bronchiolitis?
Natural methods to prevent bronchiolitis
Of course, all the good practices to improve and maintain good air quality in your home apply: regularly ventilate your home to refresh the indoor air. Do not smoke and avoid using products that may emit toxic components near your child. Ventilate especially after potentially polluting activities (cleaning, cooking, etc.).
As with any viral transmission, preventive measures and barrier gestures should be applied. It is best to avoid contact with anyone who is ill, public transportation, or crowded public places. Also, limit the sharing of pacifiers, toys, and comforters, even among siblings, especially if the older ones are attending school.
For parents and family members, remember to wash your hands regularly, before every meal, feeding, or playtime with your child. If you have symptoms yourself, wear a mask when around your child.
Also, disinfect surfaces your child comes into contact with, especially objects they put in their mouth and their toys. Be careful to use safe products! Disinfectants can also be harmful to the respiratory tract. Simple solutions suffice: soap and warm water, white vinegar, or baking soda… and in all cases, rinse with clean water.
Finally, breastfeeding also helps strengthen the protection of breastfed babies.
Medication-based prevention
Covered by the State and available with a medical prescription, nirsevimab (Beyfortus®) is a monoclonal antibody preventive treatment, injected once like a vaccine. It protects the child for 5 months5 and reduces the risk of infection and hospitalization by 70 to 74% within 150 days of administration6.
An air purifier to prevent bronchiolitis?
The air purifiers on the market use different technologies: most of them are effective against viruses, bacteria, and other microorganisms, thus limiting viral transmission. Installing an air purifier in your child’s room is therefore a solution to protect this space, where they spend many hours, from the risk of contagion.
However, one condition applies: choose your purifier wisely. Indeed, some technologies, such as activated carbon, do not affect viruses. Others, although highly effective on more than 99% of pollutants, like the HEPA filter, lose efficiency over time and need to be replaced regularly. In addition to the potential for forgotten maintenance, this generates ongoing costs and environmental impacts (waste, supply of filters sometimes produced thousands of kilometers away).
Photocatalysis, plasma, UV-C, HEPA filter… Our comprehensive air purifier guide, published on our blog, will give you the keys to compare the different criteria, their suitability to your context depending on the pollutants you want to eliminate, and will help you choose your device more wisely.
The TEQOYA devices produce negative ions, present in the purest spaces on the planet.Pollutant particles, including viruses and notably the RSV responsible for bronchiolitis, are charged and removed from the air by the principle of electrostatic precipitation. Our ionizers have proven effective in preventing viral transmission. In China, after passing rigorous tests, we were selected to equip several hospital departments, particularly maternity wards.
Imperceptible to the human ear, light and discreet, TEQOYA products are perfectly suited for your child’s room! Finally, they have no disposable filters, consume little energy, and are easily maintained with just a damp cloth.
In general, like any respiratory infection, bronchiolitis is worsened by pollution, so prevention involves maintaining good indoor air quality7 in your child’s room. Purchasing an air purifier contributes to this, but don’t forget the good habits: when setting up the baby’s room, make sure the furniture, flooring, paints, etc., do not emit VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds).
If you have doubts about the air quality in your home, you can also opt for our Test My Air offer, and benefit from our S1 sensor for 1 month.
My child is sick, what should I do?
Despite all your precautions, RSV being highly contagious, your baby may contract bronchiolitis. Do not rush to the emergency room at the first symptom, as they are often overwhelmed during epidemic periods, and the waiting time is not suitable for children.
The French National Health Authority8 and the National Professional Council of Pediatrics (CNPP) have established three severity levels of the disease, combining severity and vulnerability criteria to define the necessary levels of care.
Call your doctor or emergency services at 15 before going anywhere and provide precise information. Mention if your infant under 6 months cannot drink more than half of their bottle. In any case, doctors will ask the right questions, guide you to the most appropriate facility, and provide all the necessary advice.
Mild forms do not require hospitalization. If it is a moderate or severe form, you will then be directed to care in the community or at the hospital. If your newborn is under 6 weeks old, monitoring will be done at the hospital by default.
Here are some additional tips:
- If your child has difficulty drinking and eating: break meals into smaller portions and offer drinks frequently, but in small quantities;
- Help them sleep by raising their upper body with a cushion placed under the mattress;
- Clean their nose several times a day to relieve congestion;
- Maintain good conditions in their room: temperature, air humidity;
- If doctors do not find your baby's condition worrisome, be reassured while keeping an eye on their behavior (sleeping, eating, drinking, and playing as usual).
If your child relapses before the age of 2, you can evaluate with your doctor the need to explore potential allergic predispositions. After the third episode, your child may suffer from infant asthma9.
Are children the only ones affected?
Surveillance of bronchiolitis cases exists only for children1, for whom prevention is essential due to the severity it can have in infants.
But they are not the only ones affected! Elderly people, whose immune systems are weakened, are also susceptible to this virus, as are immunocompromised individuals, pregnant women, or those with certain chronic conditions. For people over 75, or those over 65 with comorbidities, the effects can be severe, even fatal. In France, during the winter of 2022-2023, people over 75 accounted for 61% of hospitalizations and 78% of deaths related to RSV bronchiolitis.10
We also offer air purifiers with a high pollutant capture capacity. These come in connected versions, paired with an air quality sensor and the AirObserver app, allowing real-time monitoring of indoor air quality in a space, and performing necessary corrective actions. These devices are particularly suitable for spaces such as nurseries, schools, and nursing homes... Discover them!
Sources
1 - Source: Santé Publique France: https://www.santepubliquefrance.fr/maladies-et-traumatismes/maladies-et-infections-respiratoires/bronchiolite
2 - Source: Assurance Maladie - Consultation, treatment, and progression of bronchiolitis: https://www.ameli.fr/paris/assure/sante/themes/bronchiolite/traitement
3 - Source: Sanofi, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and bronchiolitis in babies: https://www.sanofi.fr/fr/votre-sante/domaines-therapeutiques/bronchiolite-a-vrs
4 - Source: Santé Publique France, Winter surveillance report 2020-2021: https://www.santepubliquefrance.fr/les-actualites/2021/bronchiolite-bilan-de-la-surveillance-hivernale-2020-2021
5 - Source: Haute Autorité de Santé: https://www.has-sante.fr/jcms/p_3461236/fr/nirsevimab-beyfortus-dans-la-prevention-des-bronchiolites-a-virus-respiratoire-syncytial-vrs-chez-les-nouveau-nes-et-les-nourrissons
6 - Source: ARS Nouvelle Aquitaine: https://www.nouvelle-aquitaine.ars.sante.fr/comment-prevenir-la-bronchiolite
7 - Source: Laboratoire Luxembourgeois de Contrôle Sanitaire: https://www.llucs.lu/actualites/un-facteur-aggravant-les-cas-de-bronchiolites/
8 - Source: Acute bronchiolitis in infants: care based on nasal cleansing and active parental monitoring: https://www.has-sante.fr/jcms/p_3118107/fr/bronchiolite-aigue-du-nourrisson-une-prise-en-charge-qui-repose-sur-le-lavage-de-nez-et-la-surveillance-active-par-les-parents
9 - Source: RSV vaccination: protecting the elderly from severe complications: https://www.has-sante.fr/jcms/p_3528825/fr/vaccination-contre-le-vrs-proteger-les-personnes-agees-de-graves-complications
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