2024-03-19 11:36:54
19 mars 2024
After successive declines during the “Covid” years, tuberculosis experienced a rebound in France in 2023. If the incidence of the disease remains low in the country, Public Health France calls for efforts not to relax.
Tuberculosis increased in France in 2023, according to official data which is still provisional. These, according to the weekly bulletin from Public Health France published on March 19, show an increase in cases, with 4,728 cases declared. A rebound after three consecutive years of decline in the number of diagnosed cases. The cause: successive confinements linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, but also, to a lesser extent, greater difficulty in accessing healthcare structures.
An increasing incidence worldwide
The reversal of the trend in 2023 would be linked, according to the authors of the study, “to a catch-up of diagnosed cases”. The reception of Ukrainian refugees may also have influenced the incidence of the disease in France, while in 2021, Ukraine was the second country in Europe with the highest incidence of tuberculosis. Active screening for tuberculosis has also been set up in France and a “increase in the number of cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis” was observed after the arrival of infected people from Ukraine and Georgia.
However, the upward trend is observed at the global level. “The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately 10.6 million individuals will have developed tuberculosis disease in 2022 and especially notes that the number of cases officially declared in the world in 2022 is very significantly higher than those of previous years, up 16% compared to 2021 and 28% compared to 2020,” specifies the study. Unheard of since the establishment of the tuberculosis surveillance system in the mid-1990s.
Children, particularly at risk
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by bacteria. According to the WHO, 5 to 10% of infected people develop the disease and its symptoms, with babies and children in particular at particular risk. Only people who develop the disease are contagious. The only means of prevention is vaccination. In France, the BCG vaccine is not compulsory but remains strongly recommended in children at risk, helping to reduce serious forms of the disease.
Symptoms are respiratory, with prolonged coughing and sometimes blood and chest pain. Patients also present with intense fatigue (asthenia), weight loss, fever and night sweats. They « will have varying symptoms depending on the part of the body where tuberculosis becomes active. Although tuberculosis usually affects the lungs, it also affects the kidneys, brain, spine and skin,” further specifies the WHO.
A call to continue the fight against the disease
In France, since the 1970s, the incidence rate has fallen on average by 4.7% per year. This constant decline was, however, interrupted “by limited and transitory increases”, linked to direct or indirect events such as the war in Ukraine and the reception of refugees.
In this context, Public Health France fears a relaxation of the efforts made for several decades in the fight against tuberculosis in the country. “Tuberculosis remains a tragically relevant disease. The pursuit of an active, dynamic anti-tuberculosis fight that can adapt to the context is therefore crucial. Reaching out to populations most at risk because they are vulnerable is particularly essential to interrupt chains of transmission. »
In 2022, 10.6 million people will have developed tuberculosis worldwide. 1.3 million people died.
Source: BEH du 19 March 2024, Ameli.fr, OMS
Written by: Dorothée Duchemin – Edited by Emmanuel Ducreuzet
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