A very strong rebound in whooping cough is confirmed in France, where nearly 6,000 cases were recorded in the first five months of the year, much more than in all of 2023, according to data transmitted Tuesday by the Pasteur Institute, against the backdrop of epidemics in Europe.
“For the first five months of 2024, 5,854 cases were diagnosed”, compared to 495 cases over the whole of 2023, 67 in 2022 and 34 in 2021, indicated the national reference center (CNR) for whooping cough, at Institut Pasteur, confirming information from the newspaper Le Parisien.
Whooping cough, a respiratory infection caused by bacteria, is transmitted very easily through the air, through contact with a sick person with a cough.
On the European continent, more than 32,000 cases of whooping cough were recorded overall in thirty countries in the first three months of 2024, more than in the whole of 2023 (more than 25,000), according to a report from the Center European Union for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) published on May 8.
Significant epidemics have been reported in recent months in Croatia, Denmark and the United Kingdom and significant increases in cases in Belgium, Spain and Germany.
From January 2023 to the end of March 2024, 19 deaths were reported on the continent, 11 of infants and 8 of adults over 60 years old.
For this very contagious and sometimes serious disease, it is “a fairly explosive rebound” in France, the director of the CNR, Sylvain Brisse, told AFP. “We were expecting an upsurge in this cyclical disease – which peaks every three to five years – knowing that the last peak was in 2018. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the recovery, so it really comes back to the fore. strength,” he added.
The French Public Health agency reiterated the importance of vaccination.
Whooping cough 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 especially in unvaccinated infants.