Investigation of reported public health incidents in a rural municipality in Saône-et-Loire (71), April 2022

In March 2020, residents of a municipality in Saône-et-Loire (71) reported persistent, nonspecific general symptoms. Following an investigation into the source of exposure and in the absence of any environmental hypothesis, the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté referred the matter to Santé publique France on December 8, 2021, upon the recommendation of the Directorate General for Health, to request technical and methodological support aimed at providing an objective explanation for the reported symptoms. On March 31, 2022, Santé publique France initiated a process to identify a potential cluster of individuals living in this municipality who reported the same symptoms over the past four weeks at the time of the survey (cluster) in order to direct the investigation toward an environmental cause. A standardized exploratory questionnaire was administered to all residents of the hamlets in the municipality where at least one resident had previously reported symptoms. In addition to this process, a validated self-administered questionnaire in French, designed to measure the health-related quality of life of the target population, was offered. Of the 110 targeted individuals, 77 could be reached, representing a contact rate of 70%. Of these 77 individuals, 64 (or 83% of those contacted) agreed to complete the exploratory questionnaire. One-third of the respondents reported experiencing symptoms over the past four weeks. Among them, eight people attributed their symptoms to noise pollution, and more specifically to infrasound. Furthermore, 25 of these 64 people completed the online self-administered quality of life questionnaire, representing a response rate of 39%. The quality of life measured among the surveyed population was comparable to that of the general French population. The survey provided a description of the symptoms experienced by residents of a portion of this municipality without identifying any spatiotemporal clusters that would point to an environmental cause.

Author(s): Terrien Elodie, Journé Antoine, Retel Olivier

Publishing year: 2025

Pages: 37 p.

Collection: Studies and Surveys

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