The figures for the first quarter already exceed those for the whole of 2023, already marked by a resumption of the epidemic. However, maternal vaccination coverage rates are low among French speakers, leaving infants at greater risk.
Article reserved for subscribers
Journalist at the Sports department
By Lorraine KihlPublished on 05/9/2024 at 6:52 p.m.
Reading time: 3 min
HASfter a year 2023 marked by a return – significant but not unexpected – of whooping cough, the first months of 2024 saw the number of cases soar in the European Union, according to a report from the European Center for Prevention and Control diseases (ECDC). Concretely, 32,000 reports were reported to the ECDC for the first quarter. Figures still potentially incomplete. For comparison, there were 25,000 cases… over the whole of 2023. 19 deaths have been reported since the start of 2023.
The ECDC cites several avenues to explain this increase in cases: the expected epidemic peaks (whooping cough comes and goes in waves every 3 to 5 years), “the presence of unvaccinated people or not yet vaccinated, the weakening of ‘immunity, the decrease in the contribution of natural reinforcement in the whole population during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic’.
This article is reserved for subscribers
Access verified and decrypted national and international information
1€/week for 4 weeks (no commitment)
With this offer, take advantage of:
- Unlimited access to all editorial articles, files and reports
- The newspaper in digital version (PDF)
- Reading comfort with limited advertising
