Bronchiolitis is one of the typical winter respiratory diseases, and the one that produces more hospitalizations and emergency visits in children under two years old. And it is that babies and young children suffer the worst consequences of this disease, which causes about 120,000 deaths annually worldwide.
The scientific community has been working for a long time to get an effective vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that causes bronchiolitis, and very soon it could be available to be administered to pregnant women in the last trimester of pregnancy.
Could be available in 2021
The news has been published by the Infant Foundation in Argentina, and the Vaccine Advisory Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics has echoed it. And it is certainly an important novelty for the millions of babies and young children who are hospitalized every year in the world because of the virus VRS, responsible for bronchiolitis.
The vaccine, which we talked about a few months ago and whose global trial is participating in the Vall d'Hebron Hospital in Barcelona, could be available in the year 2021, according to an interview with Dr. Fernando Polack, director of the Infant Foundation.
Be would administer to pregnant women in the last trimester of pregnancy, in order to pass the antibodies to the baby and protect him from the disease in his first months of life; as is currently done with the pertussis vaccine.
And it is in the first weeks and months when babies are more at risk of infection with RSV and, consequently, more risk of bronchiolitis and other respiratory conditions.
In Babies and more Better to prevent… What vaccines should I get in pregnancy?Another vaccine for the baby is also studied
But apart from this vaccine for pregnant women, remember that also parallel work is being done on a vaccine for the baby against the RSV virus, but it is still in the first phase of development.
A vaccine against metaneumovirus (MNV), responsible for pneumonia and the leading cause of death among children under five years of age worldwide, is also being studied.
Although both vaccines given to the baby could be very close, everything seems to indicate that it will be the vaccine against RSV administered to pregnant women the one that we have at our disposal sooner, although it will still be a matter of waiting a few years.
In Babies and more The vaccine against bronchiolitis and pneumonia could be very closePreventive measures against RSV
And while the vaccine that protects babies from this serious respiratory virus arrives, parents can carry out certain preventive measures to try to prevent infection:
Wash hands frequently: Handwashing is the best prevention for infection, both from this and any virus.
If there is a baby at home, wash and have others wash their hands before picking it up or touching it. Children under one year are very prone to infection.
Especially protect premature children and babies with congenital heart disease, with Down syndrome and those with respiratory diseases.
It is a resistant virus and maintains its ability to spread for several hours, therefore avoid contact with infected people, as well as with your clothes or personal belongings.
Avoid sharing pacifiers, bottles, toys and utensils, as much as possible. If the child takes a glass or cup to the nursery, keep it always clean. If you have a pacifier, always store it in a pacifier holder.
Avoid closed and crowded environments, and spaces with smoke, as well as ventilate the rooms daily.
Children with bronchiolitis should not go to daycare.
Keep surfaces that are in contact with the baby clean.
Use tissues and throw them away after each use.
Likewise, the Infant Foundation also points to the mother's diet during pregnancy as a preventive measure to consider, as an investigation carried out by the foundation itself revealed that babies born to mothers who had a carbohydrate diet during pregnancy were eight times more likely to suffer from bronchiolitis than the rest.
Also the fact of feeding the baby with exclusive breastfeeding during its first six months, reduces the chances of suffering respiratory infections by one third.
