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 write in a joint press release. “The child lived in the Koungou district where several cases of cholera had been identified in recent weeks.”
The Minister of Health visits the site
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.
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 cases “indigenous”, diagnosed in patients who had not left the French island in the Indian Ocean, appeared at the end of April.
Death from dehydration within one to three days
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 drawn up 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.
A large-scale vaccination campaign
A vaccination campaign is underway with more than 4,000 people vaccinated to date, according to the Regional Health Agency.
In mainland France, this disease has become very rare and mainly reported by travelers returning from infected countries or areas: there have been on average zero to two cases per year since the beginning of the 2000s, according to the Ministry of Health.
We have to go back to 1986 to find traces of an outbreak in France, mainly from cases imported from North Africa, with more than thirty cases and a 10-year-old child dying after a stay in Algeria.
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