The whooping cough epidemic has been increasing in France since the start of 2024, with eight regions affected, according to Public Health France.
- Around twenty outbreaks of infection – also called clusters – have been identified in eight regions of France since the start of 2024.
- In total, in the first quarter of 2024, 70 cases of whooping cough were recorded, compared to 39 cases in 2023, over the entire year.
- Several European countries are affected by whooping cough and report several hundred cases per day.
Since the start of 2024, there has been an increase in cases of whooping cough in France, according to a press release from Public Health France. In detail, around twenty outbreaks of infection – also called clusters – were identified in eight regions of the country, while a year earlier, in 2023, there were only two cases in a single region, l ‘Ile-de-France.
As a reminder, whooping cough is a very contagious respiratory infection, because‘Health Insurance estimates that a sick person can infect 15 to 17 people on average. Coughing fits are the main symptom. This condition can become serious in certain fragile people such as the elderly, pregnant women and infants under six months who have not yet been vaccinated against this disease.
Whooping cough: Public Health France calls for vigilance and vaccination
In 2023, in the country, Public Health France had recorded a total of 39 cases of whooping cough. For this year, in the first quarter alone, the health authority has already counted 70. Most often, this concerns contamination taking place within the family or in the community (nursery, primary schools, daycare centers and nursery homes). Public Health France is concerned about a “resumption of community circulation of the bacteria which could intensify in the coming months” and calls for “vigilance”. “Given this clear increase in the number of reported cluster cases, Public Health France recalls the importance of vaccination to protect people at risk of serious forms.“, we can read in the press release.
Since 2018, vaccination has been compulsory for all infants as soon as they are old enough to be vaccinated. This vaccine, delivered at two months, four months and eleven months, protects against six diseases: whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis, Haemophilus influenzae type B, as well as hepatitis B. Adults can lose vaccination protection, particularly due to insufficient booster doses. According to Ministry of Health, “several booster shots of the whooping cough vaccine are planned: in childhood (at 6 years and 11-13 years), as well as at the age of 25 (a catch-up can be offered up to the age of 39 years)”.
“Several hundred cases of whooping cough per week” among “our European neighbors and across the Atlantic”
“To date, the French situation is not comparable with that of our European neighbors and across the Atlantic who have reported several hundred cases per week since the last quarter of 2023”, indicates the press release. Indeed, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)there is a sharp increase in cases in Europe, particularly in Croatia (more than 1,000 cases since the start of the year, compared to a few dozen usually), in Belgium, in the United Kingdom, in Denmark, in the United Kingdom, in Spain and Germany.
