Whooping cough is not a notifiable disease, and monitoring the outbreak is complex. Doctor Sylvie Queylet, medical advisor to the general management of ARS Nouvelle-Aquitaine, puts forward some dizzying figures, although undoubtedly far from reality. “This phenomenon is an indirect consequence of the Covid epidemic,” she believes. Whooping cough epidemics are cyclical, and…
Whooping cough is not a notifiable disease, and monitoring the outbreak is complex. Doctor Sylvie Queylet, medical advisor to the general management of ARS Nouvelle-Aquitaine, puts forward some dizzying figures, although undoubtedly far from reality. “This phenomenon is an indirect consequence of the Covid epidemic,” she believes. Whooping cough epidemics are cyclical, and barrier gestures and confinements have blocked cycles. There have been delays in vaccination and overall, the population has become a little more naive about this bacterial infection. »
In Europe, 32,000 cases were recorded in three months, compared to 25,000 for the whole of 2023. In France, according to the Pasteur Institute, between January and May 2024, more than 5,800 cases were recorded, i.e. 11 times more in five months than over the whole of 2023. “Our indicators are approximate,” notes Dr. Queylet, “they depend on hospitalizations and diagnoses with PCR tests. These are mostly clustered intra-family cases, and clustered cases in schools, particularly in nursery classes. The highly contagious disease is rampant. » This situation requires a rapid and coordinated response to contain the spread of the epidemic.
Newborns first
Faced with the epidemic, medical biology laboratories are encountering difficulties in meeting the growing demand for diagnostic tests for whooping cough, carried out by PCR on nasopharyngeal samples. Also, the National Union of Medical Biologists is asking the authorities to lift the ban on medical laboratory technicians so that they can take nasopharyngeal swabs (PCR), as they did during Covid.
Test quickly to contain the epidemic, diagnose of course, but above all protect the most vulnerable. “Babies are the most exposed,” insists Doctor Queylet. Before their first vaccination at 2 months of age, they are susceptible to infection and may die. The instructions do not compromise, pregnant women must be vaccinated from the second or third trimester of pregnancy, because they will transmit their antibodies to the baby who will be protected until he is 2 months old, the age of the first vaccination. »
Whooping cough: the National Reference Center warns of “a sharp increase in the number of cases”
5,854 cases of whooping cough have been recorded since the start of 2024. This is almost 12 times more than the number of cases recorded for the whole of 2023, which was only 495 cases. In 2022, according to the Pasteur Institute, 67 positive cases had been counted, 34 in 2021. And the figures are dizzying. According to the National Reference Center for Whooping Cough (Institut Pasteur) which warned of the explosion in the number of cases this Wednesday, June 5, “more than 1,400 cases confirmed by qPCR (quantitative PCR) were detected in April 2024 and beyond of 3,000 in May 2024.”
The vaccine protects for five years
The first months of the newborn should be placed under close surveillance and it is also advisable for the father to give a reminder if he has not done so, but also for all those who approach the child. We call this the “cocoon” principle. “In fact, in the same way, all those who are in contact with vulnerable people must be vaccinated,” specifies Doctor Queylet. Once the baby is vaccinated at 2 months, he will have a booster at 4 months and at 11 months, these vaccines are mandatory. The following boosters are given at 6, 11 and 25 years, then after every ten years.
This vaccine protects well but not for more than five years, hence the interest in boosters. The General Directorate of Health has alerted general practitioners of this resurgence of whooping cough and the High Authority of Health has recalled the importance of vaccination, wearing a mask and barrier gestures.
