BERLIN, March 2 (Xinhua) - The number of newborns and infants hospitalized with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in Germany increased "drastically" last winter, according to a study published by health insurer DAK Gesundheit on Thursday.
In the final quarter of last year, the number of children under the age of one diagnosed with RSV was five times higher than in the same period in 2018, before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study analyzed billing data from 786,000 patients aged 17 and younger.
Around 17,000 newborns and infants needed treatment for RSV in hospitals in the winter of 2022, according to the study. The share in intensive care units soared by 350 percent.
The RSV infections were caused by "significant catch-up effects" after the end of anti-COVID-19 measures, such as contact restrictions and school closures, the study said. After the absence of strong RSV waves in the first two years of the pandemic, there was an "exceedingly strong resurgence of RSV disease in all age groups."
"We expect hospitalizations due to RSV infections to normalize again in the coming seasons," a spokesperson of Germany's Professional Association of Pediatricians (BVKJ) told Xinhua on Thursday.
Despite the rise in infection figures, the country's pediatricians are warning against exaggerated measures, such as a general obligation to vaccinate against RSV. This step would "not be in line with the current data situation," the BVKJ spokesperson stressed.
According to estimates by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases, 50 to 70 percent of all children worldwide have at least one infection with RSV within the first year of life. By the end of the second year of life, almost all children typically have been infected with RSV at least once. ■
