There is no “for the moment only one home”, the Kirson district in Koungou, he declared on RTL, while noting a “slow rise in the level of people affected”.
The epidemic “is under control” And “circumscribed”, thanks to “an intervention by health services on vaccination, treatment, support for those affected“, specified Frédéric Valletoux.
The epidemic started “March 18” in the 101st French department located in the Indian Ocean, recalled the minister, with first cases “arrived from the Comoros” neighboring areas, where the epidemic is flaring and has already caused 98 deaths, according to the latest official report.
“The vaccination strategy for cholera is not to vaccinate in all directions and blindly”, but “by step”, with vaccination of those close to those affected and people who have been in contact with them in the last 48 hours, explained the minister.
3,700 people have been vaccinated against cholera so far in Mayotte
In Mayotte, more than 3,700 people have been vaccinated so far in the Kirson district alone, he said. “We have stocks. There are around 7,000 vaccines on the island today. 6,000 vaccines will arrive next week. We still have possible doses and in larger volumes for the start of the ‘summer”.
Furthermore, while cholera is transmitted in particular via water contaminated by the bacteria, “the State will continue water distribution as necessary” And “water ramps have been installed in certain neighborhoods”, said Frédéric Valletoux.
Coming from mainland France, 86 reservists, nurses and doctors arrived on the ground, he added.
Frédéric Valletoux recognized the difficulties facing the health system and caregivers on the island, which has only one hospital and five emergency doctors, for 310,000 inhabitants according to official population figures, probably largely underestimated.
“The teams here suffer because they have been constantly subjected to extremely tense rhythms for a long time,” he observed.
https://www.whatsupdoc-lemag.fr/article/tout-ce-quon-doit-savoir-sur-le-cholera-en-recrudescence-en-ce-moment-dans-les-pays-pauvres
“Works” extension and modernization of the hospital, for 242 million euros, “start in a few weeks”, he said, to which is added the commitment of the public authorities “to build a second hospital in another part of the island”.
With AFP
