This “highly contagious” disease explodes in 2024, who is affected ?

Since the start of 2024, France has been facing a global crisis. an explosion in the number of cases of whooping cough, a highly contagious respiratory bacterial disease.

A worrying phenomenon for health professionals. The number of cases of whooping cough in France is increasing sharply this year, according to health authorities. Nearly 6,000 cases have been investigated. recorded in France since January, according to the Pasteur Institute, i.e. twelve times more than during the entire year of 2023. The institution is alerting & Also on a number of visits to the emergency room, hospitalizations after visits to the emergency room and SOS Doctors procedures for the syndromic grouping 'whooping cough' multiplied by seven between week 11 and week 22, i.e. between the week of March 11 to March 17 and May 27 to June 2, according to data of SOS Doctors.

The number of cases of whooping cough recorded this year is also significant. on a European scale: 32,037 cases have been reported. listed between January 1 and March 31 compared to 25,130 in 2023, according to data from the European Preparation Center. Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). This bacterial disease causes a persistent cough accompanied by fits or even vomiting for more than seven days. It is particularly contagious since a patient can transmit it to others. fifteen other people. Several clusters were´acute; recorded in communities such as nursery and primary schools in particular. 

An essential vaccination

Infants not yet vaccinated, elderly or frail people, pregnant women are particularly at risk. risk. Unlike &agrav; A common misconception is that whooping cough is not a childhood disease. Anyone can catch it. The health authorities promote prevention and therefore vaccination. The latter first occurs between 2 and 4 months for babies, followed by a reminder at the age of 2 to 4 months. 11 months. Other recalls take place at a later date. 6 years, between 11 and 13 years, then   25 years and every twenty years. 

In France, over the period 2005-2015, between 122 and 509 children were hospitalized each year for cause of whooping cough, according to the Pasteur Institute. "The number of cases observed has sharply decreased; during the Covid-19 pandemic, probably due to the barrier gestures adopted during this period,” we read on the website of the ;institute. According to Santé public France, at the global level, there are 40 million cases and 300,000 deaths each year.