Pertussis cases soar in France, rise in Europe

5 months ago 22

Pertussis, otherwise known as whooping cough, cases are increasing in France, with almost 6,000 cases reported since the start of 2024, according to data published by the Pasteur Institute, the French biomedical research centre, on Tuesday (4 June).

Pertussis a highly contagious respiratory infection caused by an airborne bacterium, Bordetella pertussis, is serious when it occurs in infants and fragile people. But it is not just France, that is seeing a resurgence, other EU countries have also seen numbers climb.

“For the first five months of 2024, 5,854 cases have been diagnosed,” compared to 495 over the whole of 2023, 67 in 2022, and 34 in 2021, said the National Reference Centre (CNR) for pertussis in the Pasteur Institute, confirming information from the newspaper Le Parisien.

In April 2024, French national health agency Santé Publique France (SPF) warned of the increase in cases. “In the first quarter, some fifteen clusters, mostly in community settings (nursery schools, primary schools, day nurseries, and nursery homes) but also in family settings,” were identified.

According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), one of the reasons there is such an increase in cases is that barrier measures introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, has weakened the population’s immunity.

“We were expecting a resurgence of this cyclical disease – which peaks every three to five years – bearing in mind that the last peak was in 2018. The COVID period delayed the recovery, but now it’s really coming back with a vengeance,” Sylvain Brisse, head of the National Reference Center for Pertussis and Other Bordetellosis at the Pasteur Institute told AFP.

Other reasons include “expected epidemic peaks, presence of unvaccinated or not up to date vaccinated individuals, and waning immunity,” say the ECDC.

Adults contaminating infants

A vaccine against pertussis is available, and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends three doses for all children from an early age, with a booster dose for children aged 1 to 6.

But, “In countries like France, where children have been vaccinated against whooping cough for decades, it is the adults who contaminate infants too young to be vaccinated,” the French health insurance l’Assurance maladie warned.

As an adult, WHO recommends getting a booster shot every 20 years, for example, at ages 25, 45 or 65.

Europe coughs

Europe also saw an overall increase in whooping cough cases: over 32,000 were recorded in 30 countries in the first three months of 2024, according to a report by the ECDC published 8 May, compared with 25,000 in 2023.

Similar numbers were observed in 2016 (41,026) and 2019 (34,468). “Every three to five years, larger epidemics are expected even with high vaccination coverage,” said the ECDC.

“Europe is currently experiencing an upsurge in pertussis cases, with major epidemics,” confirmed SPF in a press release, citing Croatia, Denmark and the UK as examples, with “significant increases” in Belgium, Spain and Germany.

An infected person transmits the disease to an average of 15 other people, according to Pasteur Institute.

“There’s every reason to fear that this will continue for a few months yet, even during the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris”, Brisse warned in franceinfo.

[Edited by Alice Taylor]