One of several causes for the lack of beds is a massive staff shortage, the doctor explains. In addition, there is a high level of staff sick leave. In this already strained situation, a wave of RS virus infections must now be dealt with. The infection can affect all age groups, but endangers babies and small children in particular. The disease often inflames the bronchial tubes, trachea or lungs, and can even lead to death in rare cases. The decisive factor is the diameter of the smallest airways, the bronchioles, which is much smaller in babies than in adults. These tiny tubes can quickly become blocked. Although premature babies and children with pre-existing diseases in the first year of life are particularly at risk, 67 percent of the children who are then in hospital requiring oxygen are healthy new-borns. At first, the symptoms are very similar to other respiratory infections: dry cough, sore throat, fever, tiredness and breathing noises.

Doctors attribute the fact that so many children are falling ill at all to a certain catch-up effect due to the isolation during the pandemic. The paediatrician Axel Gerschlauer from Bonn, spokesman of the Professional Association of Paediatricians and Adolescent Doctors North Rhine, even speaks of catch-up infections. The immune system is not sufficiently trained, infections are passed on in nurseries, schools and families. The fatal thing about the RS virus is that once an infection has been overcome, there is no long-term immunity.

Paediatricians and doctors for adolescents at the St. Marien Hospital and University Hospital Bonn (UKB) also have their hands full. “Our paediatric clinic is currently treating a large number of children with acute respiratory infections triggered by the RS virus,” says Stephan Buderus, head physician of the paediatric clinic at St. Marien Hospital. The large number of patients often leads to considerable waiting times, both in the practices for paediatric and adolescent medicine, and in the emergency outpatient departments. “If possible, parents should not send their sick children to nursery, to help a little in slowing down the infection dynamics,” says the head physician.

At the UKB on the Venusberg, the paediatric emergency centre is also recording an increase in the number of cases for respiratory infections, says UKB spokeswoman Viola Röser. “Younger children in particular are affected. This increase is seasonal and to be expected.” When looking at the number of patients recorded in the paediatric emergency centre, you can see an increase in the total number of patients this month compared to the previous year, she explains. In connection with the current wave of infections, Röser says that the situation in the parent-child centre is serious but not dangerous. “We could and can continue to provide the best possible care for our youngest patients through good cooperation with the paediatricians in the region.”

Professor Gerd Horneff, Medical Director of the Asklepios Children's Hospital in Sankt Augustin, has never experienced so many severe cases of RSV in his professional career. At the clinic, 20 children are currently being treated for RSV, seven of them are in intensive care - all babies. “We are looking after them,” says Horneff. “We have step-by-step plans for such cases. So far, we have cancelled all outpatient operations and elective examinations, for example, for children with heart or brain diseases.” He says, however, that the next stage could be called at any time, which means that intensive medical treatments would also have to be suspended.

(Original text: Jörg Isringhaus, Lisa Inhoffen and Dylan Cem Akalin, Translation: Caroline Kusch)