Twelve children victims of this respiratory infection were infants, aged one to two months, one child was 4 years old. A final child, aged one month, “did not have whooping cough indicated as the cause of death as it was but had been hospitalized for whooping cough a few days before”, according to SpF.
After analysis of mortality data between 2015 and 2023, it appears that “the provisional number of deaths for the year 2024 already exceeds the total deaths reported in 2017”, the year when the greatest number of deaths among those under age 15 years had been reported, namely ten deaths, said the health agency.
Increase in hospitalizations
In France, the circulation of the bacteria causing whooping cough, “very significant during the first half of 2024 and which is intensifying in recent weeks”, resulted in a number of cases over the first six months of the year. already higher than the total for the year 2023. This has resulted, in recent weeks, in “significant increases” in the number of visits to the emergency room, hospitalizations after visits to the emergency room, much higher than in recent years, and SOS doctors acts.
Whooping cough, a respiratory infection caused by bacteria, is very easily transmitted through the air, through contact with a sick person with a cough, mainly in the family or in groups. Deaths are rare but can occur, particularly in infants too young to be vaccinated (under two months), who are more affected by severe forms.
