with more than 130,000 cases and 35 deaths in 2024, the epidemic “the most significant in 25 years”

A whooping cough epidemic has been observed since the beginning of 2024 in France and it is not abating. It is considered by scientists at the Pasteur Institute as the whooping cough epidemic “the most important in at least 25 years”In general practice, 134,639 cases have been recorded since the beginning of the year, according to Santé Publique France in its latest analysis point dated September 18. A provisional total of 35 deaths has been reported, including 22 children (20 under 1 year old) and 13 adults (aged 51 to 95 years old but for whom whooping cough was not indicated as the primary cause of death).

As a reminder, whooping cough is a bacterial infection.very contagious“, which is easily transmitted through contact with a sick person whose main symptom is frequent and prolonged coughing fits. The disease can be serious for infants, who are too young to be vaccinated under two months. In the most serious cases, they may develop malignant whooping cough with respiratory distress and deterioration of one or more organs. “The weekly number of SOS Médecins procedures for a diagnosis of whooping cough fluctuated over the summer months, while remaining at very high levels”details the health organization.

Whooping cough bacteria different from ‘pre-Covid’

At the hospital, “After 31 weeks of increases since the beginning of the year, the weekly number of emergency visits decreased for 2 weeks and stabilized, but the levels still remain very high compared to previous years”specifies Public Health France. Since the beginning of the year, 277 infants under 12 months have been hospitalized, including 220 (79%) aged under 6 months.

How can we explain such a resurgence of the disease? The lockdowns and barrier gestures introduced with the proliferation of the Covid-19 epidemic have limited the population’s exposure to whooping cough, reducing the overall immunity of the population, say scientists from the Pasteur Institute. Another explanation is a whooping cough bacteria different from the “period before Covid” and which would be more resistant to macrolides, the first-line antibiotics used against whooping cough.