Whooping cough continues to rise in region, while COVID-19 cases continue to fall

Madrid community COVID-19 and influenza cases continue to trend downward in recent weeks, down 15.8% and 33% respectively in the past seven days, while whooping cough continues to rise.Specifically, in the past seven days, March 4-10, they passed Notifiable Disease System (EDO) Surveillance Network total 462 influenza casesa decrease of 73 (-15.8%) from the previous week.

In this way, the cumulative number of cases in the 2023/2024 season reaches 62,308. During the same week in 2023, 5,451 cases of influenza were reported, an increase of 4,989 cases, and the incidence curve is later than this year.

Therefore, the cumulative number of cases in the first ten weeks of 2023 is 30,736, a decrease of 5,723 cases compared with the 36,459 cases in the same period this year. According to Ministry of Health data reviewed by Europa Press, the rate is 6.84 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, well below the epidemic threshold.

Regarding new Covid-19 cases, 77 cases were registered among the population aged over 60 in the past seven days, down 33% in the past seven days. Thus, in the 10th week of this year, the 14-day cumulative incidence rate for residents over 60 years of age was 11.7 cases per 100,000 residents. For the same period in 2023, this indicator was 120.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

Whooping cough continues to rise

Among the diseases notified by the Notifiable Diseases System (EDO) surveillance network, the increase in whooping cough is also particularly prominent. 56 cases reported last week

.As a result, there has been a significant increase in the number of pertussis cases registered in the community since the beginning of the year, with 380 cases reported in first ten weeks of this yearThis compares with the 7 cases reported during the same period in 2023, according to the weekly epidemiological report of the Directorate-General of Public Health reviewed by Europa Press.

The average age of cases was 13.50 years, but the majority (66.6%) corresponded to the age group 5-14 years.. Children under one year of age accounted for 7.9% of cases (considering only cases 2 months and older, the time of the first dose of pertussis vaccine, the vaccination rate was 91%). Of the total number of cases reported, 22 required hospitalization, 13 of whom were under one year old and one death was a premature infant with multiple medical conditions.

Pertussis, an acute bacterial infection caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis, was one of the most common childhood diseases and one of the most important causes of death in children until vaccination programs were introduced in 1965. In Spain, just over 3,000 cases are recorded each year, with the highest incidence among children under one year old, especially two months before receiving the first dose of the vaccine.