HEALTH: The Gastroenteritis epidemic which has been spreading throughout France, has arrived in the Charente region
The reality seems to have gotten a little ahead of the statistics of Sentinelles, this network of doctors, for the most part, generalists, who compile data linked to epidemics of acute diarrhoea, flu, chickenpox in particular. The network has noted that the epidemic of gastroenteritis, a classic of the period, had hit the south of Nouvelle Aquitaine where the incidence rate – the number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants – is the highest in the country, but left the Charente and the north of the Region green with optimism. Data from the Sentinelles network concerns “week 51”, until Christmas.
Reading in medical offices is a little different. “Only one case today, not yesterday at all. But last Thursday and Friday, it was the majority of consultations, “said the doctor on call at the Aunac medical centre.
In Montbron, his colleague Jean-Rémi Cubaud has been dealing “only here since the 27th”. “Many families have been affected. “ But he reassures: ” It is not a very serious virus. A day with diarrhoea, fever, the usual symptoms and it passes. There were no severe cases, even in the elderly. “
The peak may not be behind us, however. In Champniers, at the counter of her pharmacy in the Géant shopping center, Amandine Tesson-Richez does the accounts. “It’s a client in two since last Wednesday. It started after Christmas. A hundred cases a day. It’s a peak and it’s contagious. ”
She distributes the boxes of Vogalib, over the counter, which she has left. It has already passed 200. This is a sign of the scale of the epidemic. The supplier is out of stock. Because it is a component of a phenomenon that is not easy to quantify. “Today, explains the pharmacist, people no longer systematically consult for gastroenteritis. They use self-medication more. “
Pharmacists may well have to reorder in Charente. The data for week 51 put New Aquitaine at the head of the epidemic with 225 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, ahead of Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur (215) and Grand-Est (207) against 177 at the national level. For Sentinelles, it is “a strong activity on the increase”.
The flu has not struck. The whole region is green.
