“Suspected cholera. » On the closed door of this room at the Mayotte hospital center (CHM), a sign prohibits entry and lays down the mandatory measures to be taken: gloves, apron, hydroalcoholic solutions. In the room, a 25-year-old woman from the Comoros was treated on Monday April 22 following violent diarrhea and vomiting. The rapid diagnostic orientation test was positive for cholera bacteria.
In the next room, a worried mother, a shawl on her head, watches over her 5-year-old boy, asleep with a diaper on his bed. Little Madi Mohamed was hospitalized the next day due to the same symptoms. The child has not traveled in recent days, but has eaten “East African bananas”, explains the mother to Doctor Alimata Gravaillac, head of the emergency department, who examines the boy. She tells him that the rapid test is negative. While awaiting the results of additional analyses, the doctor implemented a classic treatment protocol against cholera: rehydration solution and antibiotics.
Since the appearance of the first case of cholera in Mayotte on March 18, thirteen people carrying the bacteria have been identified and treated in the French department of the Indian Ocean. The Mayotte regional health agency (ARS) announced on Friday April 26 the appearance of the first three indigenous cases. Three separate cases in the commune of Koungou, in the north of the island, which “were very likely contaminated by a symptomatic person who did not report to the SAMU”indicates the director of the ARS, Olivier Brahic.
From the Comoros and East Africa
Until these first three indigenous cases, the authorities were primarily monitoring a spread of the bacteria on the island through the almost daily arrival of kwassa-kwassa – light boats carrying migrants – leaving from the neighboring Comorian island of Anjouan, 70 kilometers away, where the number of patients is soaring.
Statistics from the Union of Comoros Ministry of Health indicate an average of between 70 and 90 new cases per day. On April 25, 42 deaths were recorded in Anjouan, the most affected of the three islands of the archipelago (1,906 cases, out of a total of 2,674).
The epidemic entered the Comoros at the beginning of February, with a traveler from Tanzania. In East Africa, cholera is rife in twelve countries, from Ethiopia to Mozambique, and as far as the Democratic Republic of Congo. More than 240,000 cases have been reported since the start of 2023, and at least 4,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.
You have 67.28% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.