The Association for Intensive Care Medicine (DIVI in German acronym) has indicated that the seasonal rise in cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and the shortage of nurses are causing a “catastrophic situation” in hospitals.
RSV is a common and highly contagious virus that affects almost all babies and children under two years of age, and some of them can become seriously ill.
Experts say easing restrictions put in place to fight the COVID-19 pandemic will lead to more babies and children with RSV, whose immune systems are not ready to fight the virus.
According to the same source, hospital doctors are currently facing very difficult decisions about which sick children to hospitalize due to a lack of available beds.
In some cases, patients with RSV and other serious illnesses are being transferred to hospitals in regions of Germany where there are even fewer resources for intensive care.
The association warned that a recent study identified fewer than a hundred pediatric beds across the country and the situation could get worse.
Sebastian Brenner, head of pediatric intensive care at Dresden University Hospital, told German TV channel N-Tv that the situation could worsen in the coming weeks: “We are seeing this in Switzerland and France,” he added. about the risks of available treatments become even more scarce.
German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach announced today that the government will loosen some rules to ease the transfer of nurses and will allocate another 600 million euros to pediatric hospitals over the next two years.
In November, the European Commission approved the world’s first single-dose drug for the treatment of RSV.
