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Measles has a third victim in France in 2018, a 17-year-old girl died at Bordeaux University Hospital " as a result of neurological complications " related to this highly contagious virus, against which the population is inadequately vaccinated. " This is the 2nd death caused by this disease in New Aquitaine and the 3rd in France since November 2017 ," announced Friday, July 6, 2018 the ARS of New Aquitaine in a statement. And the 23rd death due to the disease since 2008. The measles had already killed February 10 in Poitiers a mother of 32 years who had never been vaccinated and who contracted the virus while driving his father to emergencies. And June 9, he is a man who was taken to Marseille, the day before his 26 years. Born immunocompromised, it was " probably contaminated by an unvaccinated relative ", according to the Public Health Agency France.
1,096 cases since November 2017, a quarter of which required hospitalization
" New Aquitaine is no longer in the epidemic phase "but the fight for vaccination continues, insists on its side the ARS. Since November 6, 2017, 1,096 cases of measles have been confirmed in the region (2,567 in France in total). By way of comparison, between 2013 and 2015, the number of measles cases did not reach 400 annuals. One in four cases required hospitalization, twelve patients were transferred to intensive care and two died. " Nearly 90% of these cases were not or insufficiently vaccinated (2 doses needed) ," says the ARS. The insufficiency of vaccination coverage in France favors this extremely contagious disease: an infected person can contaminate up to 20 people
No treatment: only vaccination is effective
" Measles is not not a mild disease ", recalls the ARS Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The country has avoided an epidemic like that which had affected 24,000 people between 2008 and 2012, including nearly 15,000 in 2011. But that does not prevent sometimes tragic complications (pneumopathies, meningoencephalitis, etc.) which, without leading to systematically death, can cause serious consequences. There is unfortunately no treatment to cure this disease, says the ARS, the drugs can only relieve the symptoms. The only effective way to protect against measles is preventive vaccination. This vaccine has existed since 1968. Before routine immunization of all infants, more than 600,000 cases occurred each year in France, according to Santé Publique France. But the coverage with the second dose of vaccine, which guarantees immunity, currently varies according to departments between 62% and 88%, said Public Health France in March 2018. The objective of the health authorities is to achieve, as the recommends the World Health Organization (WHO), 95% of vaccination among people at risk. Adults born after 1980 are part of it because at the time vaccination was gradually taking place and the virus was circulating. Many have therefore never developed antibodies against the disease
SCEPTICISM . The country of Louis Pasteur is distinguished today by a skepticism against vaccines widespread in its population. Sometimes accused of being dangerous to health, sometimes to be guided by the financial interests of laboratories, campaigns for vaccination sometimes meet with hostility. The government has therefore chosen the regulatory route to increase immunization coverage. Children born on January 1, 2018 must receive 11 vaccines, including MMR (measles, mumps and rubella). Before that, there were only three mandatory, and eight recommended.
CG with AFP
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