Headlines - A Decade of Tularemia Surveillance in Humans in France

Tularemia has been included on the list of notifiable diseases (MDO) since 2002 as part of the plan for the prevention of nuclear, radiological, biological, and chemical risks, in order to promptly detect any infections of malicious origin and to monitor trends in naturally occurring disease. The InVS has just published a report on 10 years of national surveillance. From 2002 to 2012, 433 cases were reported in France. The highest incidence was recorded in Poitou-Charentes, with 3.2 cases per year per million inhabitants (57 cases between 2002 and 2012). Nationally, nearly half of the patients were hospitalized, 5% developed complications, and 2 patients died. The most common risk exposures were non-occupational direct contact with animals (mainly hares) and outdoor recreation. Overall, tularemia surveillance shows an increasing annual number of reported cases since the implementation of mandatory reporting, likely due more to the gradual increase in reporting than to an actual increase in the number of cases.