Why German hospitals are overwhelmed with sick kids

Germany: Several European countries including Germany are seeing a surge in bronchiolitis.

As Germany faces a winter wave of cases of the chest infection in infants, it has put already strained hospitals under extra pressure. After two years of the coronavirus pandemic which brought measures like face masks that shielded the country's youngest from exposure to respiratory viruses, several European countries including Germany are seeing a surge in bronchiolitis.

Germany: A doctor checks data in the intensive care unit (ICU) at the pediatric ward of Berlin's Saint Joseph Hospital. (AFP)

The situation is particularly bad in 2022 as newborns and infants are exposed to the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which commonly causes bronchiolitis, for the first time, AFP reported.

Here are top points as Germany faces the surge of bronchiolitis:

1. Hospitals are struggling to handle the surge with a smaller number of staff than ever before. The factors that have contributed to the problem are: an incredible number of sick children, infected caregivers, and all that at the same time as chronic staff shortages, AFP reported quoting a head of a hospital in Germany.

2. Even in the intensive care unit of some hospitals, beds have had to be closed, the report said, adding that medics are frequently finding they have no space for new patients.

3. Many sick children have even had to be transported by helicopter to regions further afield, the report said.

4. Robert Koch health institute said that 9.5 million people in Germany were last week affected by some sort of respiratory illness, across all age groups. The figure is well above that during the same period in 2021, and is higher than at the peak of the 2017-18 flu epidemic.

5. Currently, there are 18,000 hospital beds for children in Germany, down from 25,000 in 1995, according to the federal statistics agency, AFP reported.