The first awareness campaign in December did not have the desired effect. Of the 1,500 people expected, only 230 went to the University Hospitals of Strasbourg (HUS), to be vaccinated once morest meningococcal group B, responsible among other things for sometimes serious pathologies such as meningitis. Hence a booster shot from the ARS.
The Grand Est regional health agency (ARS) renews its appeal to young people from Strasbourg. A certain number received an SMS encouraging them to go to the vaccination center opened at the New Civil Hospital (NHC) in Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin) in order to receive an injection once morest meningococcus B. All this, without a prescription and free of charge.
This mobilization follows a series of severe cases which have been declared since November 2022, and which concerned five residents of Strasbourg and one of Colmar (Haut-Rhin). Among these people, four frequented the same nightclub. All had to be hospitalized, one died. the sixth report of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) was reported on Thursday January 5th, 2023.
Faced with this phenomenon, the health services are advocating prevention, in particular among the most affected groups. That is to say theare employees of the nightclub, and more generally for all people frequenting the festive places of the city center of Strasbourg.
Fever, headache, vomiting, stiff neck are the first symptoms. In case of suspicionthe ARS recommends calling 15 immediately, or consulting a doctor urgently in order to set up a treatment.
Meningococcus B, of bacterial origin, is spread by saliva or by air. It can cause sepsis, or meningitis, i.e. inflammation of the meninges, the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord.
About one in ten people (and one in four teenagers) carry meningococci in the back of their nose or throat without showing any symptoms of the disease. However, often benign, the pathology can also be devastating.
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Vaccines developed since the 1990s can combat the most virulent forms of meningococcal infection. According to the ARS, the six people infected in Strasbourg were infected by a single strain. “This is a rare and hitherto unknown strain in the Grand Est”specifies the agency, adding that the latter still circulates in the Strasbourg conurbation.
