The cholera epidemic in Mayotte has caused the first death, a three-year-old child in the commune of Koungou, the prefecture and the Regional Health Agency announced on Wednesday. “A first child died today,” they wrote in a joint press release. “The child lived in the Koungou district where several cases of cholera had been identified in recent weeks.”
This first fatal case comes on the eve of the visit of Minister of Health Frédéric Valletoux to this island in the Indian Ocean, planned for several days.
Risk of death from dehydration
The first cases of cholera in Mayotte were recorded in mid-March among people returning from neighboring Comoros, where the epidemic is surging with 98 deaths according to the latest official report. In Mayotte, the first “native” cases, diagnosed in patients who had not left the French island in the Indian Ocean, appeared at the end of April.
Cholera, a bacterial disease that can cause acute diarrhea and lead to death from dehydration within one to three days, is transmitted through contaminated water or food. There are effective vaccines and treatments.
Since mid-March, 58 cases of cholera have been recorded by the Mahorese authorities, including six active cases at the last report dated May 6. A protocol developed in February to prevent the spread of the disease provides for the disinfection of the patient’s home, the identification and treatment of contact cases and “ring” vaccination, gradually expanding the area concerned around the patient’s home. suffering from cholera.
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