The French National Public Health Agency is warning the population of the resurgence of cases of whooping cough, a particularly contagious respiratory disease that can be serious, particularly in infants.
The health agency is warning in particular of “a clear increase in the number of cluster cases”: around fifteen cluster cases have been reported in eight mainland regions since the start of 2024, compared to two in Île-de-France alone over the entire year. 2023.
“In the first quarter, around fifteen clusters, mainly in communities (nursery schools, primary schools, daycare centers and nursery homes) but also in families, and totaling 70 cases were reported,” according to a document published Thursday evening on its website.
What is this disease?
Whooping cough, a respiratory infection caused by bacteria, is transmitted very easily through the air, through contact with a sick person with a cough, mainly in the family or in communities. It causes frequent and prolonged coughing fits, and can be serious for infants and vulnerable people (chronic respiratory patients, immunocompromised people, pregnant women). Deaths are rare but can occur particularly in very young unvaccinated infants.
As the “resumption of community circulation of the bacteria could intensify in the coming months”, Public Health France emphasizes that “vigilance remains essential, with the need to strengthen public awareness of this disease and its modalities prevention”, vaccination in mind.
Although the number of cases of whooping cough has fallen sharply since the introduction of the vaccine, “the bacteria continues to circulate” and affects more infants too young to be vaccinated, as well as adolescents and adults who have lost vaccination protection, particularly due to insufficient reminders.
France spared compared to its neighbors
Whooping cough progresses in cycles of recrudescence every three to five years. In France, previous epidemic peaks were noted in 1997, 2000, 2005, 2009, 2012-2013 and 2017-2018.
“If a rebound could be expected in 2021-2022, the exceptional context and the health measures (…) in the context of the Covid-19 epidemic have probably reduced the transmission of whooping cough”, according to Public Health France.
Despite the current rise, "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", however tempers the agency.
Significant epidemics have been reported in Croatia, Denmark and the United Kingdom and significant increases in cases in Belgium, Spain and Germany. Deaths were also reported this week in the Czech Republic and at the end of January in Serbia.