Almost twice as many whooping cough cases as in the previous year
Published: Friday, May 24th 2024, 11:50
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By mid-May, almost twice as many cases of whooping cough (pertussis) had already been reported to the Federal Office of Public Health than in the entire previous year. Due to the discontinuation of the Covid-19 measures and the increased contacts, such pathogens are circulating more strongly again, the FOPH said on Friday at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency.
Cases of whooping cough are often clustered locally. So far this year, more such cluster reports have been registered than in previous years. Most of them involved two to four people, who were mostly infected in schools, as the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) reported on request.
Whooping cough cases are currently on the rise throughout Europe: in Germany, the number of cases had tripled by mid-May compared to the previous year, according to figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
At the FOPH, the pertussis pathogen is monitored as part of the Sentinella reporting system. This means that there are only extrapolations based on reports from around 180 selected GP practices throughout Switzerland, as the FOPH also announced on request. The Federal Office also receives reports of unusual clusters.
Less widespread thanks to vaccination
In the 20 years prior to the pandemic, however, the projected annual incidence in Switzerland ranged between 40 and 164 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the FOPH. During the first three years of the pandemic, the incidence then fell to below 20 per 100,000 inhabitants due to contact restrictions.
Children who are less than one year old account for around six percent of all cases in the sentinel system. Around 30 children are hospitalized each year due to whooping cough, most frequently infants. Four pertussis-related deaths have been reported in the last 15 years.
However, whooping cough, which can affect people of all ages, is not widespread in Switzerland thanks to the existing vaccine, the FOPH added. In the fall of 2023, however, the compulsory stocks of the triple vaccine Boostrix, which is effective against whooping cough, among other things, had to be opened.
However, these will not be opened permanently, but only for a limited period to support the market, said a spokesperson for the Federal Office for National Economic Supply (FONES) on Friday in response to a request. The FONES expects the situation to ease by the end of July.
©Keystone/SDA
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