Whooping cough cases are rising sharply in France this year. During the first five months of 2024, the data from the virus surveillance system in France “will record nearly 7,000 positive PCR tests, compared to 518 in the entire year 2023,” announced the General Directorate of Health (DGS) this Friday, June. Health authorities call for prevention, especially through vaccination.
The institution also reports in a press release “a number of visits to the emergency room, hospitalizations after visits to the emergency room and SOS Médecins procedures for the ‘pertussis’ syndromic group multiplied by seven between week 11 and week 22”, that is , between week 11 and week 22. the week of March 11 to 17 and that of May 27 to June 2, according to data from the OSCOUR network (emergency surveillance) and SOS Médicos.
Newborns are “the most affected”
The DGS explains that seven regions have detected at least “about twenty clusters in communities” (schools, early childhood care places) or in the family circle at “the end of March 2024”: Ile-de-France, Brittany, Country of the Loire, Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, Grand Est, Occitania and New Aquitaine.
“Babies too young to be vaccinated (those under 2 months old) are the most affected by severe forms, hospitalizations but also deaths,” says Public Health of France in a statement.
The organization recalls that this bacterial infectious disease is “very contagious” and that “it is transmitted through the air and, in particular, by contact with a sick person who has a cough.”
Vaccination call
The number of whooping cough cases recorded this year is also significant at European level: 32,037 cases were recorded between January 1 and March 31, compared to 25,130 in 2023, according to data from the European Center for Prevention and Control. of Diseases (ECDC).
The DGS also reports that whooping cough “evolves in cycles of recurrence every three to five years” and that “the last cycle observed in France dates back to 2017-2018.”
In this context, it calls for “raising awareness among the population and health professionals about this disease and its prevention methods”, first of all with vaccination, especially when summer approaches, a period conducive to the “seasonal resurgence of whooping cough.” “, as well as “large meetings planned for this summer in connection with the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
Source: BFM TV
