High humidity, high temperatures and heavy rainfall. In June 2018, the combination of these three meteorological factors caused a jump in the number of cases of legionellosis in France. This infection is due to the implantation of a bacteria, legionella, which is most often found in water. According to the latest epidemiological bulletin from Santé Publique France, just over 2,100 cases of legionellosis were recorded in 2018, i.e. 31% more than the previous year.
"The bacteria stay in the air longer"
This sudden increase in France worries the health authorities. Especially since the weather conditions which favored it could well, with climate change, be repeated in the years to come. "The bacterium stays a little longer in the air and affects more the people who are going to meet it. It concerns us a lot to see an increase in the number of cases without being able to act", worries Christine Campese, epidemiologist at Public Health France.
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The agency's researchers have already launched additional work over the past ten years to better understand the influence of meteorological factors on this increase in cases of legionellosis. A disease that can be serious: in 2018, it had caused 167 deaths.