The cholera epidemic in Mayotte caused the first death, a 3-year-old child, in the commune of Koungou, the prefecture and the regional health agency (ARS) announced on Wednesday, May 8. “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”they report.
“The intervention teams went to the site to treat those close to the child”adds the prefecture, ensuring that the authorities were “fully mobilized in the fight against cholera in the territory”.
This first fatal case comes on the eve of the visit of the Minister of Health, Frédéric Valletoux, to this island in the Indian Ocean, planned for several days.
Two days after the confirmation of the first three indigenous cases of cholera in Mayotte, the prefecture and the ARS announced on April 28 that the total number of cases on the island now stood at twenty-six, specifying that one new “cholera unit” was opened in a medical center.
“In view of the situation, and in order to ensure the care of all sick people, the Regional Health Agency and the Mayotte hospital center have taken the decision to open a second cholera unit from today », within the Dzoumogné reference medical center. The first unit, capable of accommodating a maximum of fourteen people within the Mayotte hospital center, can no longer accommodate new patients.
On April 26, the first three cases of indigenous cholera were identified in Koungou, north of Mamoudzou. Until then, ten imported cases had been recorded since mid-March among people arriving in particular from neighboring Comoros. In order to contain and reduce the risk in the commune of Koungou, the ARS has strengthened its field interventions and created a screening and orientation center. “Vaccination operations are also organized on the ground”specifies the health agency, which is continuing, at the same time, its health raids in order to ensure wide dissemination of recommendations and to direct people towards vaccination and screening systems.
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. 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 vaccination. “in rings”by gradually expanding the area concerned around the home of the patient suffering from cholera.