Cases of whooping cough on the continent have increased tenfold. The European Union had to sound the alarm

In mid-2023, an infant died from whooping cough in the first month of life. This is something very rare in Spain. In fact, this is a very rare occurrence in the European Union. But, of course, this was not a joke. Over the past 16 months, countries in the European Union have reported nearly 60,000 cases of whooping cough. This is ten times more than reported in 2022 and 2021.

A silent epidemic. Today, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has just sounded the alarm about an epidemic that has received far less attention than it deserves.

What is whooping cough? By whooping cough we mean “an acute bacterial infection caused by Bordetella pertussis

or through Bordetella parapertussisexclusively human pathogens that can affect people of all ages“. This is a highly contagious disease that is especially dangerous for infants and young children.

Throughout much of 2020, 2021 and 2022, social distancing measures brought about by the pandemic remained B. whooping cough at historical lows. In 2023, the disease returned, but in a rather modest form. In 2024, we witnessed an unprecedented explosion.

Not so much because of the absolute numbers (even in countries with high coverage, whooping cough outbreaks occur very sporadically, and we have seen more severe outbreaks this century), but because it occurs outside of the months in which it is most common. disease outbreaks.

How to stop the epidemic. As Stella Kyriakides, the EU’s health commissioner, explained, “it is a serious disease, especially in infants,” but “we have safe and effective vaccines that can prevent it.” Note, not to prevent infections. The whooping cough vaccine is not a sterilizing vaccine: it does not prevent the virus from circulating, but it does prevent a huge number of severe cases and deaths.

These figures indicate, as the ECDC points out, that we must “strengthen vaccination programs and achieve and maintain high vaccination coverage” (an injectable drug that otherwise loses effectiveness over time). It is for this reason that pediatricians have been asking for new doses to be added to the vaccination schedule for years without much success.

Should we worry? A few months ago we said no. There seems to have been no “big news at the front”, and the situation as a whole has not changed. As we have already said, the variability of whooping cough outbreaks was very high. In fact, researchers have been documenting the rise of the disease for almost 40 years. In Spain, going no further, the number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants has increased sixfold since 2010.

To all this we must add the post-pandemic effect. However, the ECDC’s warning should not go unheeded as we must not forget that whooping cough is a huge public health problem. As we have said many times, major epidemics are not usually caused by completely new diseases; but for old acquaintances who learn to overcome the walls that hold them back.

Image | Carlos Reusser

In Hatak | From 47 cases in 2023 to 2,531 this year: reasons why 2024 became the year of whooping cough