In Spain , hospitals are experiencing a sharp increase in cases of bronchiolitis , the respiratory viral inflammation that affects children .

The Spanish Society of Pediatric Emergency Departments (SEUP) has reported the consequent difficulties in managing hospitalizations and the presence of emergency units with the increase in hospitalizations already 40% higher than pre-pandemic levels in this period of the year.

The main concern of specialists is given by the fact that in 2022 the wave of cases is registered about 20-25 days earlier than the average and the risk is that the pediatric intensive care units will collapse with the increase in infections.

" Contingency plans are needed to cushion the effects of health care delays ," read a SEUP statement. The anticipated peak of cases would also be caused - add the pediatricians - by the absence of circulation of the virus in the last two years, during the pandemic, and the low immunization rate among children born in this period.

(Unioneonline/vf)