Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Swiss Amended at 2:13 p.m.
Resurgence of whooping cough cases in several French-speaking cantons
Highly contagious, infectious and potentially fatal in infants, whooping cough is currently experiencing an increase in the number of cases in French-speaking Switzerland. In Neuchâtel, outbreaks appeared in six nurseries in the canton. Other isolated cases have been reported in Friborg and the canton of Vaud.
Whooping cough can affect people of any age. But it is infants who are most vulnerable.
How, then, can we protect them as much as possible from this potentially fatal disease in the youngest? The best strategy remains to vaccinate mothers during their pregnancy, as recommended by pediatricians.
“We have a transfer of antibodies from the mother to the fetus during pregnancy, which means that at the end of the pregnancy, we have greater quantities of antibodies in the baby's blood,” explains in La Matinale Pierre Alex Crisinel, head of the Infectiology and Vaccinology Unit at the CHUV pediatric unit. “And this protects 90% compared to hospitalizations during the first three months of life. If we take the other strategies which would be to only vaccinate those around us, we would have an effectiveness of only 50%.”
The doctor specifies that this does not mean that those around them should not be vaccinated: “the recommendation in Switzerland is to vaccinate people in contact with infants every ten years.”
Circulation of the disease difficult to control
According to the latest figures from the Federal Office of Public Health concerning children and adolescents, vaccination coverage against whooping cough has continued to increase in Switzerland, but is decreasing over time. Which explains why it remains very difficult to limit its circulation in the population.
The health authorities are therefore asking the professionals concerned to exercise the greatest vigilance, like the Neuchâtel cantonal doctor Laurent Kaufmann. According to him, this increase in the number of cases may come from a delay in diagnosis in certain cases, which allowed contamination in the very young class.
"Whooping cough remains a relatively rare disease. Pediatricians and doctors do not look for whooping cough for all cases of cough that appear. It is by being aware that we look for cases of whooping cough, and that is what which is currently happening. Cases of whooping cough are also not necessarily declared. Only outbreaks are reported to us in nurseries, unlike other diseases. We therefore only see the tip of the iceberg of what is happening at the moment. is happening now."
...
Lack of guidelines in care
The disease also circulates elsewhere in French-speaking Switzerland, notably in the canton of Vaud where a family recently confronted with whooping cough recounts their obstacle course in La Matinale. Although vaccinated, the three children and two parents fell ill. The mother started to worry when her 4-year-old daughter's cough got worse.
"I had never seen a cough like that. I called the pediatrician who told me that given the four doses of vaccine, whooping cough was not possible. She finally suggested that I do a smear to eliminate this possibility and it turned out to be positive. In the end, the whole family was positive,” explains the mother.
What bothered her the most was the lack of guidelines in the method to follow. “As we were often in the emergency room, it was with different doctors each time before I asked my pediatrician. Because it was going in all directions with a lot of information coming together, particularly regarding taking antibiotics. The course of action wasn’t always the same depending on who I was talking to.”
https://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/1452...e-flambee-dans-plusieurs-cantons-romands.html
Resurgence of whooping cough cases in several French-speaking cantons
Highly contagious, infectious and potentially fatal in infants, whooping cough is currently experiencing an increase in the number of cases in French-speaking Switzerland. In Neuchâtel, outbreaks appeared in six nurseries in the canton. Other isolated cases have been reported in Friborg and the canton of Vaud.
Whooping cough can affect people of any age. But it is infants who are most vulnerable.
How, then, can we protect them as much as possible from this potentially fatal disease in the youngest? The best strategy remains to vaccinate mothers during their pregnancy, as recommended by pediatricians.
“We have a transfer of antibodies from the mother to the fetus during pregnancy, which means that at the end of the pregnancy, we have greater quantities of antibodies in the baby's blood,” explains in La Matinale Pierre Alex Crisinel, head of the Infectiology and Vaccinology Unit at the CHUV pediatric unit. “And this protects 90% compared to hospitalizations during the first three months of life. If we take the other strategies which would be to only vaccinate those around us, we would have an effectiveness of only 50%.”
The doctor specifies that this does not mean that those around them should not be vaccinated: “the recommendation in Switzerland is to vaccinate people in contact with infants every ten years.”
Circulation of the disease difficult to control
According to the latest figures from the Federal Office of Public Health concerning children and adolescents, vaccination coverage against whooping cough has continued to increase in Switzerland, but is decreasing over time. Which explains why it remains very difficult to limit its circulation in the population.
The health authorities are therefore asking the professionals concerned to exercise the greatest vigilance, like the Neuchâtel cantonal doctor Laurent Kaufmann. According to him, this increase in the number of cases may come from a delay in diagnosis in certain cases, which allowed contamination in the very young class.
"Whooping cough remains a relatively rare disease. Pediatricians and doctors do not look for whooping cough for all cases of cough that appear. It is by being aware that we look for cases of whooping cough, and that is what which is currently happening. Cases of whooping cough are also not necessarily declared. Only outbreaks are reported to us in nurseries, unlike other diseases. We therefore only see the tip of the iceberg of what is happening at the moment. is happening now."
...
Lack of guidelines in care
The disease also circulates elsewhere in French-speaking Switzerland, notably in the canton of Vaud where a family recently confronted with whooping cough recounts their obstacle course in La Matinale. Although vaccinated, the three children and two parents fell ill. The mother started to worry when her 4-year-old daughter's cough got worse.
"I had never seen a cough like that. I called the pediatrician who told me that given the four doses of vaccine, whooping cough was not possible. She finally suggested that I do a smear to eliminate this possibility and it turned out to be positive. In the end, the whole family was positive,” explains the mother.
What bothered her the most was the lack of guidelines in the method to follow. “As we were often in the emergency room, it was with different doctors each time before I asked my pediatrician. Because it was going in all directions with a lot of information coming together, particularly regarding taking antibiotics. The course of action wasn’t always the same depending on who I was talking to.”
https://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/1452...e-flambee-dans-plusieurs-cantons-romands.html