after the death of an infant in Lille, health authorities call for vigilance

Public Health France had already launched a call in mid-April for “reinforced vigilance”, this time, it is the head of the pediatric emergency department of Lille University Hospital who is mobilizing in favor of the vaccination of pregnant women and children. close to newborns.

The circulation of whooping cough is accelerating in Europe and France. Health authorities are calling for vigilance, particularly following the death of an infant and several serious cases among young children in Lille. Fatal cases of whooping cough are quite rare in France. Our country has around ten cases per year, but this disease remains dangerous for vulnerable, unvaccinated people. Infants before the age of two months, the time of the first mandatory injection of the whooping cough vaccine, are particularly vulnerable.

In this context, the head of the pediatric emergency department of Lille University Hospital launches, Tuesday May 14, in the voice of the North, a new call for vaccination of pregnant women and relatives of newborns. We are facing a resurgence of cases, as happens regularly every three to five years. In mid-April, Public Health France had already launched a national alert, some 70 cases of whooping cough have already been reported in around fifteen clusters since the start of the year in France. This is already almost double the total number of cases reported in all of 2023.

The European Center for Infectious Disease Surveillance also reports an increase in cases in Belgium, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom in particular.

This bacterial disease causes prolonged coughing fits, which sometimes lead to wheezing. This can be reminiscent of rooster crowing, hence the name of this disease. It is a respiratory infection that is well treated with antibiotics, but recovery can take several weeks, and above all it is a very contagious infection, 10 times more transmissible than the flu. A sick person can contaminate 15 to 17 others around them.
Hence the calls for vigilance, in particular, if you have been coughing unusually for more than a week.

This warning also concerns adults, whooping cough is not just a childhood disease, it can be contracted several times, at any age, especially since vaccination only provides limited protection over time. Boosters must therefore be given regularly during adolescence and adulthood, even after 65 years of age, because from this age the vaccine remains recommended every 10 years.