INFECTION: The disease, Tuberculosis is about twice as common in the Paris region as in the whole of France
It is a disease that was thought to be declining. Since 2015, tuberculosis is again rising in Ile-de-France , the French region most affected by this disease.
Between 2015 and 2017, Public Health France saw a 10% increase in reported cases. Tuberculosis is an infection that most commonly affects the lungs, is transmitted by air and can spread to the brain. She is usually treated in six months with a course of several antibiotics. This disease is about twice as common in the Paris region as in the whole of France.
Évitable et curable, la #tuberculose cause surtout des symptômes dans les poumons et les voies respiratoires (ex. toux qui dure plus de 2 semaines ou crachement de sang). Parlez des tests et des traitements à votre médecin. https://t.co/Mpp0Zbu2Uv #Journéemondialedelatuberculose pic.twitter.com/xRxuisbzoL
— GouvCanSante (@GouvCanSante) March 24, 2019
Precarious living conditions
“The populations concerned by this increase are those suffering the most precarious and promiscuous, including those born abroad, in collective housing or homeless and those recently arrived in France,” says the public body in its Bulletin weekly epidemiological (BEH). 1.758 confirmed or probable cases of tuberculosis were reported in Ile-de-France in 2015, 1.809 in 2016 and 1.927 in 2017, representing a growth of 9.6%, says the epidemiological study.
Of the eight departements in the region, Seine-Saint-Denis had by far the highest reporting rate (25 / 100,000 in 2015 and 26,5 / 100,000 in 2017), ahead of the Val-de-Marne (which is the only department down, from 18.3 / 100,000 to 15.8 / 100,000). “The biggest increase was observed in Paris where the incidence rate went from 13.5 / 100,000 in 2015 to 16.8 / 100,000 in 2017, an increase of 23.4%,” says the BEH.
The most deadly infectious disease
Men, young people aged 15 to 24, and people born abroad, especially those who arrived in France less than two years ago, were the most affected, the study said. “The proportion of Tuberculosis cases among foreign-born people who arrived in France recently (for less than two years) increased significantly between 2015 and 2017, from 23% to 32%,” she notes in particular. .
“These observations encourage to continue and strengthen the adaptation of the screening of these populations at risk,” the authors say. Globally, TB is the most deadly infectious disease , with 1.6 million deaths a year, about three-quarters of which are in India.
