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In 2022, several cases of diphtheria were recorded in France, a situation not seen for decades. Should we therefore fear an epidemic of this deadly disease which had disappeared in France?
A highly contagious disease, sometimes fatal, and eradicated from France since 1945 thanks to vaccination, diphtheria seems to be making an unexpected return to Europe. Several cases have been reported in several countries.
30 cases reported in France in 2022
According to a communication unveiled at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Saturday April 15, on the year 2022:
- 30 cases of diphtheria have been reported in France;
- 118 in Germany;
- 69 in Austria;
- 52 in Switzerland.
However, “the appearance of serious cases or clustered cases within the general population appears extremely low in metropolitan France and Reunion“, would like to reassure Public Health France.
Diphtheria, what is it?
As the Institut Pasteur website reminds us, diphtheria is a disease caused by several species of corynebacteria of the complex diphtheriae. It is a respiratory infection that induces damage to the central nervous system, throat or other organs, leading to death by asphyxiation in the most serious cases.
More frequent, skin infections are often less serious. Fortunately, there is an effective vaccine, compulsory since 1938 for children and health professionals, which has eradicated it from our country.
Should we be worried about these new cases?
For the time being, scientists cannot explain how these people contracted diphtheria. However, Dr Sylvain Brisse, director of the National Diphtheria Reference Center at the Institut Pasteur, is not particularly concerned about the risk for the population:
“It is a rather exceptional situation, however we cannot speak of a European epidemic, because there have been no transmissions to the general population: these cases remain limited to people arriving from abroad, in a situation of vulnerability, often asylum seekers”.
According the Parisian, most of those infected were young men in their twenties. They did not have the respiratory form of the disease, which is sometimes fatal, but the cutaneous form, which is less serious. According to doctor Sylvain Brisse, these contaminations are “probably linked to a lack of hygiene and promiscuity” on the migratory routes, as well as the poor vaccination coverage of their country of origin in conflict.
Maintaining vaccination coverage is essential
The reappearance of cases of diphtheria, as surprising as it is, seems to act like a booster shot, as Dr Sylvain Bisse points out:
“Ihe message to take away from all this is that these diseases, which we no longer know about in our country, can come back thanks to geopolitical imbalances, because they are not controlled in the countries of the South. Let’s never forget that germs know no borders: it is therefore essential to maintain good vaccination coverage on our territory.”
This is particularly effective in France. Not only is it a compulsory vaccine at birth, but the recommendations provide for booster shots in adults at 25, 45 and 65 years old, then every ten years, which is not the case in all the countries. Other European countries should thus align themselves to maintain good vaccination coverage at the level of the continent.