March 8, 2019.
For several months now, measles has made a big comeback in France. The national public health agency, Santé publique France, has been reporting ever increasing measles cases since January and has drawn up a map of active epidemic foci in France.
288 cases of measles in France since 1er january 2019
As the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef sound the alarm bells in the face of the worrying upsurge in measles around the world, Public Health France has identified, as of March 3, 2019, no less than 288 cases reported since 1erjanuary 2019, in 50 departments.
According to the health agency, 91% of cases occurred in unvaccinated or poorly vaccinated people and 30% required hospitalization, including four cases in intensive care. While the decline in measles vaccine coverage could explain the resurgence of the disease since 2017, which was down from 2012 to 2016, however, measles cases in France are down compared to last year : 745 cases recorded between 1er January and March 3, 2018.
Auvergne-Rhône Alpes, the most active measles epidemic focus
According to data from Public Health France, it is for the moment in Auvergne-Rhône Alpes that the cases of measles are the most numerous: 50 cases were counted in Val Thorens, 36 suspects and 14 confirmed, and 5 cases in the neighboring valleys of Savoie. Many cases also in Occitania, with homes identified in two Travelers’ communities : 19 cases in Haute-Garonne and 8 cases in the Pyrénées-Orientales.
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur is also badly affected, with 13 cases : 7 suspects and 6 confirmed in children from a school in the Var; 33 cases reported elsewhere in Reunion since 1erJanuary and 6 “under investigation”; finally, 14 cases in Mayotte, including 10 confirmed. In these regions, the risk of the disease spreading is high, due to insufficient vaccination coverage.
Aurélie Giraud
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