Bad health news. Meningococcal meningitis, potentially fatal, experienced an “unprecedented rebound” in France after the cessation of health measures put in place during Covid-19, warns the Pasteur Institute, which calls for extending the vaccine to adolescents, particularly affected.
Meningitis is an infection of the coverings surrounding the brain and spinal cord. In most cases, they are viral, but can also be of bacterial origin: this is the case with meningococcal meningitis. Transmission occurs from person to person through close, prolonged contact.
Around one in ten people in the general population (but one in three adolescents) carry meningococci without any symptoms of the disease appearing. High fever, severe headache, vomiting, neck stiffness, photosensitivity, red or purplish spots (purpura) are the main symptoms. Unpredictable and devastating, this disease can cause death in less than 24 hours, without rapid treatment. Properly treated, mortality remains 10%.
An unprecedented increase in France
During the Covid-19 epidemic, barrier gestures such as wearing a mask and social distancing had positive consequences on respiratory infections, recalls the Pasteur Institute. This was the case for meningococcal meningitis, which saw its number of contaminations drop by more than 75% in 2020 and 2021. But the reference center wondered about the future, when the protective measures would be relaxed.
If 298 cases were recorded between January and September 2019, 421 cases have already been recorded between January and September 2023, an increase of 36%, “even though the winter peak has not yet occurred”, points out Pasteur. Levels “never reached” in France, underlines Muhamed-Kheir Taha, head of the National Reference Center for Meningococci, who suggests “reconsidering the current vaccination strategy”.
Today in France, only vaccination against meningococcus group C is compulsory, since 2018. Vaccination against meningococcus B has simply been recommended in infants since 2022.