the essential
Since mid-May, health professionals in Lot-et-Garonne have observed a resurgence of the Covid-19 epidemic and its FLiRT variant; whooping cough is also gaining strength.
Barrier gestures and wearing a mask remain strongly recommended during the summer holidays and population mixing, recalls the ARS of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Covid 19 has been regaining ground since May with an acceleration in screenings in June and in the positivity rate.
As proof, the Jayan-Cerballiance Gascogne laboratory (Lot-et-Garonne and Gers) notes an increase in screening by PCR tests: 77 requests in April including 1% positivity and 138 requests between June 1 and June 21 including 15%. of PCR tests proving positive. Patients also arrive with prescriptions from doctors to carry out pertussis PCR tests, as well as serologies carried out at a distance from contamination. Since June 21 alone, of the number of pertussis PCR tests, 19.4% have been positive!
Viruses circulate
According to the French Public Health bulletin of June 25 communicated by the ARS Nouvelle-Aquitaine, there has been an increase in suspicions of Covid-19 since mid-May in the Region (similar trend at the national level), a gradual increase in number of SOS Médecins acts for suspected Covid-19 and the share of associated activity, a slight increase in the number of visits to the emergency room for suspected Covid-19, however with a low level of activity and no concept of severity. The trend for whooping cough is also on the rise, 5,800 cases were recorded by the Pasteur Institute between January and June, which represents 11 times more over the same period in 2023. It is strongly recommended to update your vaccination. DTCP (Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio vaccine) and in particular in pregnant women, since the duration of vaccine protection is 5 years. Once an adult, the booster should take place at 25 years, 45 years and 65 years with catch-up doses if necessary. “The situation in Lot-et-Garonne does not present any atypicality,” states the ARS communication. It follows regional and national trends for these two epidemics, “but we see that the viral circulation of Covid 19 is currently significant”.
Immune debt
A pharmacist from the outskirts of Agen also confirms that Covid tests intensified in June: 41 antigenic tests for suspected Covid compared to an anecdotal figure in June 2023. “We see that the boosters of the traditional vaccine (DTCP) which includes whooping cough are absolutely not up to date in many patients, and we have cases of tetanus.
Dr Jean-Marcel Mourgues, general practitioner in Pujols and vice-president of the national order of doctors, also attests to the resumption of Covid 19: “We carry out antigenic tests at the medical office and the rise has been significant for a months with flu-like clinical pictures, or even more symptomatic forms. The virus presents an RNA, a genetic material which varies easily, hence the succession of variants for 4 and a half years. May, a third is positive, but with less serious expressions and dramaturgy. It comes in waves and undulation of frequency.
Regarding whooping cough, the vice-president of the Order, who also sat in Lot-et-Garonne, speaks of a resurgence since the beginning of spring, affecting adults, high school students and children. “But since the fall, we have observed a frequency of infectious diseases of the respiratory tract: mycoplasmas, respiratory syncytial virus and whooping cough leading to a persistence of an infectious background. Perhaps the result of a post-covid immune debt”. A doctor from the left bank of the Garonne is also concerned about the reappearance of whooping cough, which had disappeared from radar screens since 1983, sometimes with a delay in diagnosis blurred by lasting coughs but which are not, however, similar to the classic characteristic of cockcrow. Screening is done by PCR whooping cough test in the laboratory or by searching for immunoglobulins in the blood.
Du Covid-19 au FLiRT
While SARS-CoV-2 has been circulating quietly in recent months, a new increase in suspicions of Covid-19 has been observed since mid-May 2024 in the region, as well as at the national level.
With the arrival of a new mutation of the Sars-Cov-2 virus nicknamed “FLiRT”, a new wave of contaminations is feared this summer. FLiRT is the term used to describe a whole family of new variants (including the dominant KP.2 variant) of the SARS-Cov-2 virus which predominate in the United States and are emerging in Europe.
The latter are distant relatives of Omicron. They are nicknamed “FLiRT” based on the technical names of the different mutations, one of which includes the letters “F” and “L”, and another of which includes the letters “R” and “T”.
The decline in individual immunity (previous infections and/or last dose of vaccine) and the behavior of the population (gatherings, reduced vigilance for example) can favor transmission.
