News as of August 23, 2012

• Heat wave in Aquitaine: From August 16 to 20, two departments were placed under a MIGA alert—Lot-et-Garonne starting August 16 and Dordogne starting August 17. No significant health impacts related to the extreme heat were observed in these departments.

• Nationally, the heat wave affected several departments starting on August 16. The immediate impact of this heat wave on public health was assessed daily by analyzing visits to hospital emergency departments. As of August 22, as expected, an impact of the heat has been observed since August 16 in the form of a moderate increase in emergency room visits for heat-related conditions (hyperthermia, dehydration, hyponatremia*), both nationally and in the regions affected by the heat wave. Overall emergency department visits remained stable, however. The preliminary assessment of the health impact of this heat wave will be supplemented in the coming weeks by an analysis of all-cause mortality, which typically shows a moderate increase during such episodes.

• PhysaTox Surveillance 2012 (July 1–August 31): Since early July, 32 cases of jellyfish stings have been reported by the sentinel network of beach lifeguard stations.