2023-08-25 06:02:59
July 2021, a case at the Crown (15th). January 2022, another in a new residence in La Joliette (2nd). December 2022, yet another at the Grand Pavois (8th). But also in 2010 at the HLM Les Caillols (12th), in 2008 at La Castellane (16th) or in 2006 at the prison of Salon-de-Provence, where a young 24-year-old prisoner succumbed… The epidemic which occurred in the course of the winter of 2003 in the Pas-de-Calais, however, remains the worst observed so far in France: 90 cases and 17 deaths.
Legionella live in humid environments, in their natural state, but love to reproduce in hot water networks: Public Health France lists an average of 1,500 cases per year, with a lethality rate of 10%. The number of patients is increasing: there were 1,816 in 2019 and 2,060 in 2021. This is + 55% of cases compared to 2020, or + 13% compared to 2019. In July 2021, a peak of + 200% had even been observed, probably “under the influence of weather factors, high temperatures and heavy rainfall seeming to be key factors in the survival and dispersion of legionella in the environment”. In the Region, one of the most affected, with Grand-Est and Rhône-Alpes, the ARS recorded 226 and 214 cases in 2021.
In three-quarters of cases, those affected had a risk factor: smoking, diabetes, etc. The patients were 64 years old on national average. The incubation period of the disease is two to ten days: the first flu-like symptoms (fever, dry cough) followed by an increase in fever. The patient then feels feelings of discomfort, as well as abdominal pain, accompanied by neurological disorders (confusion, coma). In the majority of cases in France, the analyzes have clearly shown that the sanitary water networks were the “probable” origin of the poisoning. “It is therefore essential to maintain a quality surveillance system with a declaration of all cases without delay, coupled with a methodical and reactive investigation.“, SPF alert.
Legionellosis owes its name to an epidemic that occurred in 1976 among 182 participants of the 58th Congress of the American Legion in Philadelphia, 29 of whom had died: the bacteria had spread through the air conditioning system of their hotel.
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