2024-05-08 12:54:10
Infants are most affected by new cases of whooping cough in a large part of European countries.
Nearly 60,000 cases of whooping cough have been reported in Europe in 2023 and until April 2024, an increase of more than ten times compared to 2022 and 2021, indicates the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in a press release published on May 8.
In detail, some 25,000 cases were recorded in 2023, and more than 32,000 between January and April 2024, following “a few years of limited circulation” with 1,500 cases recorded in 2021 and 2,600 cases in 2022.
“Similar figures were observed in 2016 (41,026) and 2019 (34,468),” specifies the ECDC.
Infants are most affected by these new cases in 17 countries studied, while they mainly concern adolescents aged 10 to 19 in six other countries.
Babies under six months of age who have not been vaccinated or only partially vaccinated are also at greatest risk of developing a severe form of the disease. It is also among infants that the number of deaths is highest.
“Vaccination is our key tool”
Faced with the increase in cases, Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health, calls for “vigilance” and vaccination.
“It is a serious disease, particularly in infants. We have safe and effective vaccines that can prevent it. Vaccination is our key tool to help save lives and prevent the disease from spreading further,” she writes. on X.
The ECDC explains this increase in cases in particular by the fact that certain individuals are not vaccinated or have not updated their vaccination. The institution also recalls that the number of cases of whooping cough recorded must be “interpreted with caution” due to the differences in case surveillance systems put in place in the different States.
Around twenty clusters in France
In France, Public Health France reported on April 18 an increase in the circulation of whooping cough in France since the start of the year, with 70 cases reported. In recent months, around twenty clusters have been reported in eight regions of the country. In comparison, for the whole of last year, only two were recorded, only in Île-de-France.
The whooping cough vaccination is compulsory in France for infants since January 1, 2018. Then, a booster is necessary at 6 years old, then between 11 and 13 years old and finally at the age of 25, with the possibility of catching up until the age of 39. Vaccination is also recommended for pregnant women and, in the absence of vaccination of the mother during pregnancy, postpartum.
Caroline Dieudonné, with Emilie Roussey
1715174345
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