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. 2022 Dec;50(6):1587-1590.
doi: 10.1007/s15010-022-01889-6. Epub 2022 Jul 29.

High burden of RSV hospitalizations in Germany 2021-2022

Tobias Tenenbaum  1 , Maren Doenhardt  2 , Natalie Diffloth  2 , Reinhard Berner  2 , Jakob P Armann  2
Affiliations

High burden of RSV hospitalizations in Germany 2021-2022

Tobias Tenenbaum et al. Infection. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Public health measures implemented to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the worldwide transmission of endemic respiratory viruses such as RSV, as well as other typical, seasonal, and viral respiratory pathogens.

Methods: From October 18, 2021 to March 31, 2022, RSV cases admitted to German pediatric hospitals were monitored via a newly established, national, Clinician-Led Reporting System (CLRS) that recorded patient age and type of respiratory support. A subanalysis of the first 4 months of the monitoring period was additionally performed.

Results: In October 2021, a total of 471 hospitalized pediatric RSV cases per day were documented by 67 reporting hospitals. By January 2022, this number dropped to three cases at 11 hospitals (median of reporting hospitals: 37 (11%)). During these months, the median of hospitalized children on general wards and intensive care units was 133 and 15, respectively. In the subanalysis conducted to examine the period October to January, an average of 3.6 ± 2.2 patients per hospital per day were hospitalized on general wards (median 4 cases; range 0.3-8 cases), whereas 0.4 ± 2.2 patients were on intensive care units (median 0.3 cases; range 0-0.9 cases), with 11.5% receiving respiratory support. The majority of patients were under 2 years old.

Conclusion: The overall burden of out-of-season RSV cases was extraordinarily high in Germany in 2021-2022. The newly established CLRS may help evaluate and, therefore, better allocate local and national pediatric care resources.

Keywords: COVID-19; Nonpharmaceutical intervention; Pandemic; Respiratory syncytial virus; Seasonality.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Burden of RSV hospitalizations in Germany, October 2021–March 2022. A Average number of reported RSV cases per hospital per day. General wards and intensive care units are displayed separately. B Average number of RSV cases with and without respiratory support per hospital per day. C German hospitals participating in the RSV CLRS. D Age distribution of RSV cases admitted to hospital
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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