Since the beginning of 2024, seventeen people have died from whooping cough.
Among them were thirteen babies aged one to two months and a four-year-old child.
In the majority of cases, those around them were not vaccinated.
The state of affairs is alarming. In 2023, nearly 15,000 cases of whooping cough were recorded in six months. That is almost thirty times more than in the entire previous year. The number of deaths has risen to seventeen people since January, including thirteen infants aged one to two months, a four-year-old child and three people over 85 years old.
While newborns are the most vulnerable, doctors point out that they can be protected. “If a woman is pregnant today, to protect her newborn, the most effective way is for her to be vaccinated from the eighth month”explains Professor Anne-Claude Crémieux. “The vaccine will cause a high level of antibodies that it will be able to transmit to the newborn before he has the opportunity to be vaccinated”explains the infectious disease specialist as we can see in the report at the top of the article.
A very contagious disease
It is also important that those around the newborn are up to date with the vaccine. Whooping cough is a respiratory disease with a very specific symptom. “Coughing fits with a noisy inspiration that makes a whistling sound called cockcrow. We cough so much that we have difficulty breathing between coughing fits.”explains Professor Sylvain Brisse, director of the national reference center for whooping cough at the Pasteur Institute.
Whooping cough is highly contagious and is transmitted through the air. On the eve of large gatherings around the Olympic Games, health authorities are calling for vaccination, as well as common sense. If your cough persists for more than a week, consult a doctor, and don’t hesitate to wear a mask.
