Dr. Carmen Zapuchiou, primary pediatrician and specialist in pediatric pulmonology at the Grigore Alexandrescu Children’s Clinical Emergency Hospital in the capital, told News.ro that there are about 400 children with respiratory diseases and that the specialized sections are archipelagos.

Many children remain in hospitals and need oxygen because they suffer from pneumonia associated with respiratory failure.

The hospital has a center for the detection of pathogens of respiratory infections, so the doctor was able to explain that during this period the respiratory syncytial virus and rhinoviruses, which cause severe forms of the disease, circulate the most.

Pollution, the doctor says, is also an important factor that aggravates the disease.

Many respiratory viruses

“There are a lot of respiratory viruses in this period, more than in other years, and it seems that there are more than before the pandemic. In three weeks, their number has increased a lot, many respiratory diseases, ranging from nasopharyngitis, whooping cough, common viruses, but there are many that proceed unfavorably and lead to pneumonia associated with respiratory failure. Many children who had bronchial asthma have asthma exacerbations during this period.

As for the microbes that occur during this period, in our hospital every winter, starting from autumn-winter, we are a pilot center for the detection of pathogens of respiratory infections.

The center is open for two weeks, during which time we found that viruses, especially respiratory syncytial virus and rhinoviruses, which cause severe forms, in babies, for example, cause bronchiolitis with respiratory failure, so children need to go to the hospital to get oxygen to provide them with treatment,” explained Dr. Zapuchoi.

Pollution, a factor that leads to severe disease development

The doctor says that, especially in the case of children, the mask should also be used outdoors when it is foggy outside, as it is loaded with small pollutant particles that can penetrate deep into the respiratory tract and cause complications.

“There is another factor that may have contributed to such a serious development in this period, the high degree of pollution, which has recently been at the level of Bucharest, for example. Looking at sites that show the degree of pollution, it can be seen that it has always been very high.

In Bucharest we have pollution caused by cars, we also have pollution outside Bucharest, in the countryside, where people heat with stoves, smoke pollutes the atmosphere, burning leaves or tires, all these pollute, plus the fog that causes pressure to rise and all these particles settle at atmospheric level near the ground, particles are very small, 2.5 microns or 10 microns, or these particles penetrate deep into the respiratory tract of children, contributing to adverse events.

So we have an accumulation of factors, in addition to pollution, we also have viruses that are now circulating, there are also bacterial infections, especially hemophilic and pneumococcal infections during this period, because these children benefit from free vaccination in the first year of life, if they are vaccinated , if they are not vaccinated, then of course their risk of complications is higher. Unfortunately, there are also unvaccinated children.

I would advise parents, if they take their children outside in the fog, it is better not to, but if they have nowhere to go, to go to a certain place, to wear a mask. child on the street to limit inhalation of air with a large number of polluting particles,” explained the doctor.

All the hospitals in Bucharest are choked

There is no “worst case” in the department now, says Dr. Zapuchoui, because they are all serious. All children need oxygen because they have respiratory failure. Other children’s hospitals cannot accept patients because they are full during this period, the doctor says.

“I can’t say ‘the worst’ because they are the worst. Almost the entire ward is occupied by children with pneumonia, with respiratory failure, they are all the same, all on oxygen, the archipelago ward, we are at maximum capacity, almost 400 patients come to the hospital every day, with respiratory diseases. , that’s been the case this week, and now we’re expecting even more children to be hospitalized this weekend, when family medicine offices are closed.

Unfortunately, all the hospitals in Bucharest are suffocating because we are also in contact with colleagues from other hospitals, no one can take patients from another hospital because they are all full, the beds are full to the brim. They are all the same, respiratory failure, so they cannot be sent home, they must be in the hospital.

So far, cases of influenza have started to appear, but they are probably at the beginning, probably there will be more of them in December, January, February, but now we have not hospitalized children with the flu,” said Dr. Carmen Zapuchiou.

Tips on how not to get sick.

Isolating sick children from the rest of the community, avoiding very crowded playgrounds and wearing masks indoors. A diet containing fresh fruits and vegetables is also very important for children.

“I think all parents know these tips. Avoid contact with other sick children. If they have children in kindergarten, then they should not be sent to nursery, kindergarten, with cough and runny nose, because everyone else in this group will get sick from them.

This is the first measure of protection. Then playgrounds. Those inside, for example in shopping centers, are a great danger for children, they gather there in a very limited space, many children gather, if one of them is sick, they sneeze on the corresponding slides or on the balls that, being in those playgrounds , other children come, no matter how healthy and with a normal immune system, they cannot escape in order not to catch a respiratory infection.

Then wearing a mask, which we have become accustomed to in recent years. This is a preventive measure because while masks were worn during those pandemic years, there were covid infections, but they (i.e. colds, viruses) almost disappeared because wearing a mask protected against those viruses.

Eat teas, vegetables, fresh fruits, vitamins, until the age of 7 in the cold season, you need to get vitamin D and C every day. The most important thing is to avoid being around other sick people,” explained the doctor.

On average, 25 children are hospitalized per kindergarten

Dr. Raluca Alexandru, spokesperson for the Grigore Alexandrescu Hospital, explained to news.ro the situation related to the number of hospitalizations:

“UPU has more than 350-380 presentations. Many viruses. On average, 25 children are hospitalized per kindergarten (per day). During the two days of the weekend, 60 children with viruses were hospitalized. We are working at full capacity. Security guards run out of vacancies. We have 100 places in 4 pediatric departments,” said the doctor.

On Thursday, the Institute for Mother and Child Protection had more than 200 emergency calls, the hospital said. And doctors working in children’s health centers expect that this weekend more children will arrive at the UPU than during the week.