Two three-month-old babies died from a malignant form of whooping cough in Montpellier (Hérault). While medical staff are observing an “explosive” rebound in the disease, the Montpellier University Hospital is calling on pregnant women to be vaccinated.
“Since the end of 2023, we have been facing many cases of whooping cough, around ten times more than usual. You have to go back to the 90s to see so many cases! »confided to Free Midday Professor Éric Jeziorski, head of the pediatric post-emergency emergency department at Montpellier University Hospital. According to him, successive confinements, by leading to a drop in overall immunity, would be responsible for this resurgence of whooping cough. “Whooping cough is one of the most transmissible diseases, even more so than measles, for example. And as it was its first circulation since Covid…”he explains.
The vaccine, “the best means of prevention”
If he wants to be reassuring about the seriousness of the situation, the doctor recalls the importance of the vaccine for pregnant women. “It is the best means of prevention against whooping cough. Unfortunately, only 10 to 30% of them are in France”he emphasizes.
In France, more than 5,800 cases were diagnosed in the first five months of 2024, compared to 495 cases in all of 2023, according to the national reference center (CNR) for whooping cough, at the Pasteur Institute.
To find out more: read the article by Free Midday .
