The whooping cough epidemic continues and it is impossible to predict when it will peak. a newsletter published this Tuesday, Public Health France confirms the intensification of the circulation of the disease, with very high contagiousness.
Hospitalizations on the rise
While the number of emergency room visits is starting to decrease, the number of hospitalizations has been “on the rise since the beginning of the year.” 199 infants under one year old were treated in seven months, already five times more than in 2023.
“Extremely distressing” when contracted by healthy adults, whooping cough “can be fatal at the extremes of life,” recalls Professorr Antoine Flahault, epidemiologist and director of the Institute of Global Health at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva.
Infants are most at risk: of the 28 deaths reported in France since the beginning of 2024 (compared to three in total last year), 20 involved children, including 18 under the age of 1. Nine of them occurred in July.
Not very surprising
The resurgence of this respiratory disease, caused by a bacteria, is “unusual” but does not constitute “a real surprise”, according to the Pr Flahault. “The number of cases had been very limited during the pandemic. The measures against covid were very effective and now that they have been lifted, there is a kind of catch-up,” explains the epidemiologist.
But if whooping cough is causing so much damage, it is also because vaccination coverage is insufficient. A sick person can contaminate an average of 15 to 17 people, through “respiratory pathogens that are transmitted in the air,” says Antoine Flahault. And if “it is a disease that can be prevented very well by vaccination,” it is still necessary for the latter to be up to date.
Getting a shot to avoid contaminating babies
The whooping cough injection is only mandatory for infants born from 2018. “It is very effective but does not last very long, as is often the case with vaccines against bacteria,” notes the French doctor. Several boosters are therefore necessary over the course of a lifetime: since last week, the High Authority of Health has even recommended that people in contact with babies under six months get vaccinated every five years (compared to ten previously).
“When you are exposed to small children, it is in your best interest to get revaccinated so as not to contaminate them,” insists Professorr Flahault. Especially since babies don’t get their first shot until 2 months. And less than 20% of pregnant women get vaccinated during their pregnancy, while the HAS has recommended this practice from the second trimester of pregnancy since April 2022.
“Whooping cough is such a painful disease that a small injection is nothing to protect yourself and the most vulnerable,” summarizes Antoine Flahault. Public Health France even advocates for “increased vigilance” during the Olympic Games. Of course, “the competitions are mainly held outdoors, but we must not neglect the third half effect,” insists the professor.