An increase in invasive meningococcus W infections in Dijon and Genlis has prompted officials with the Regional Agency for Health (ARS) Bourgogne Franche Comté to organize a campaign of vaccination for 17-24 years in this geographical area.
Between December 2017 and June 2018, five cases of invasive meningococcal disease W occurred in Côte-d’Or. Of these five cases, four involved young adults living in the Dijon and Genlis regions, one of whom died.
In this zone, the incidence rate meningococcus W is more than 10 times higher than that observed in the rest of France.
A vaccination campaign against meningococcus W is scheduled from October 2018 to March 2019, with about 40,000 young people aged 17 to 24 living, studying or working in the living areas of Dijon and Genlis (about 153 municipalities).
Serogroup W is one of the least common in France. Nevertheless, an increase in the number of cases has been observed since 2015 (from 19 cases in 2014 to 74 cases in 2017).
This increase is essentially linked to a virulent strain (“strain UK-2013”) for which a significant proportion of deaths (32%) were observed among the cases reported in France in 2017.
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