The number of cases of chikungunya continues to progress in Mayotte. If the vaccination campaign was launched two weeks ago, only five people were vaccinated in the department after the discovery of undesirable effects in those over 65.
The chikungunya continues to spread to Mayotte. The number of cases has skyrocketed for a month, without reaching the same epidemic level as in the department neighboring Reunion. The Regional Health Agency is trying to limit propagation by anti-label control actions and vaccination, even if the campaign begins stammering. We questioned on this subject Tanguy Cholin, the Head of the department of security and health emergencies at the ARS of Mayotte.
Mayotte the 1st: What is the situation currently in Mayotte?
Tanguy Cholin : There are 98 confirmed cases including 41 Aboriginal cases, 29 imported cases and thirty in investigation, to find out if they have been contaminated in Mayotte where if they come from territory or the virus actively circulates, like Reunion. It is a virus that is very little lethal, in a case for 1,000, there may be severe cases, which require hospitalization in resuscitation, but it is a very small part of the cases. The majority of cases require only a city medicine consultation, but nothing more. The disease is resolved on average between 5 and 7 days.
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© Mayotte the 1st
We perform two types of diagnoses, there is the one we can do here, the PCR, if we are in the first five days of appearance of symptoms, with results that are made within 48 hours. If we have to do serology, for more distant symptoms in time, it is something that we send in mainland France, with time of transport and interpretation, it can take between ten and 15 days.
-Mayotte the 1st: the vaccination campaign started two weeks ago, but was disrupted by the discovery of three cases of serious adverse effects, one of which led to the death of the patient. How is this campaign going to Mayotte?
T.C : Very few people are vaccinated, we made five vaccines before suspending the campaign while waiting for the advice of the High Authority for Health and it has only been taken up very recently, which explains these fairly low figures. The HAS has suspended vaccination for people over the age of 65, it is currently open for 18 years to 64 years old with comorbidities.
Mayotte the 1st: This is the first chikungunya vaccine to obtain a marketing authorization, how to reassure patients?
It is a new vaccine, there is a very pronounced pharmacovigilance: that is to say that we identify all the undesirable, serious and non-serious effects, associated with vaccination. There is this first filter of the High Authority for Health, which reacted, but in Mayotte we made the choice to secure even more by inciting the prescribers to pay attention to the most severe comorbidities, by encouraging them to calculate the benefit-risk balance. For the population of 55 to 64 years, we will make a recall on J+4 to ensure that there is no undesirable effect.
