The whooping cough epidemic has intensified and nearly 6,000 cases have been recorded in the first 5 months of the year in France, warns the Pasteur Institute.
- The whooping cough epidemic is intensifying in France.
- There have been nearly 6,000 cases since the start of the year, compared to 495 in 2023.
- Whooping cough is particularly dangerous for babies because they are not yet vaccinated.
The whooping cough epidemic is confirmed and even appears to be particularly intense. “Nearly 6,000 positive cases” were recorded between January and May 2024, according to data transmitted by the Pasteur Institute on June 4, 2024. Which is “eleven times more (…) than for the whole of 2023.”
Whooping cough: a situation “never seen” for 40 years
“For the first five months of 2024, 5,854 cases were diagnosed”compared to 495 infections recorded over the whole of 2023 or 67 in 2022 and 34 in 2021, specifies the national reference center (CNR) for whooping cough, at the Pasteur Institute, confirming information from Le Parisien.
Asked by France infoSylvain Brisse, head of the National Reference Center for Whooping Cough and Other Bordetelloses at the Pasteur Institute, acknowledged that this is a situation “never seen before” for more than 40 years. “Neither this number of cases, nor such a rapid increase.”
The expert added in the press: “We were expecting a resurgence of this cyclical disease, which peaks every three to five years, knowing that the last peak was in 2018. The Covid period delayed the recovery, now it is really coming back in force.”
Whooping cough outbreak: be careful with toddlers
Whooping cough, nicknamed the 100-day disease, is particularly contagious. An infected individual can transmit the bacteria responsible for the disease to 15 people. This is why this resumption of the circulation of whooping cough, which began in France at the beginning of the year, is worrying health institutions as well as health professionals.
“In the first quarter, around fifteen clusters, mainly in communities (nurseries, primary schools, daycare centers and maternity homes) but also in families”notes Public Health France in a report published in mid-April.
A few weeks before the Olympic Games, the organization called for vigilance and recalled the importance of vaccination in the fight against this disease, which is potentially dangerous for vulnerable people (chronic respiratory patients, immunocompromised people, pregnant women).
“The most serious problem is when whooping cough affects an infant. In very young children who have not yet been vaccinated, the disease can be fatal.”warned Sylvain Brisse.
