#Health #alert #due #increase #whooping #cough #cases #demands #vaccination
Administration of a vaccine against whooping cough. (Europa Press)
The European Union has warned this Wednesday of a whooping cough epidemic in the region. Despite vaccination, whooping cough has experienced rapid growth in recent months, a rebound that left 1,800 cases in 2023 and totals more than 11,000 so far this year.
Throughout 2023 and until April 2024, the countries of the European Union plus Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein have recorded 60,000 cases of whooping cough, a figure ten times higher than in 2021 or 2022, as noted by the European Center for Prevention and Control of Diseases (ECDC).
It may interest you: Madrid urgently purchases PCR reagents for whooping cough because cases have multiplied by 63 in this community
This increase may be due to numerous factors, as explained. Among them, natural epidemic peaks, people who are not vaccinated or do not have their updated schedule, which generates a decrease in immunity; and the decrease in natural reinforcement in the general population during the covid-19 pandemic.
“The increase in the number of whooping cough cases in Europe shows that we must remain vigilant. “It is a serious disease, particularly for babies,” declared the European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides. She assured that there are safe and effective vaccines to prevent the disease in member countries. “Vaccination is our key tool to help save lives and prevent the disease from spreading further,” she added.
The European control center has urged health authorities to reinforce vaccination programs to protect the child population. “It is essential to remember the lives that are at stake, especially those of our little ones,” said Andrea Ammon, director of the ECDC.
Recognition of a baby at the Granada Clinic (Europa Press)
According to studies published by the ECDC, the highest risk after whooping cough infection appears in children under six months of age who are not immunized. “They represent the group with the highest morbidity and mortality from whooping cough.” In these cases, vaccination in the second or third trimester of pregnancy is key, a means “highly effective in preventing illness and death among newborns who are still too young to be vaccinated.”
It may interest you: Whooping cough outbreak causes the death of a newborn baby: his mother was not vaccinated during pregnancy
The risk is reduced and remains moderate for children between six months and 15 years old, over 16 years old, and adults up to 54 years old. In this last group, the risk falls if a booster dose has been received recently.
The risk is also moderate for people over 65 and those who suffer from conditions such as asthma, lung diseases and immunosuppression.
