Cholera has claimed a new victim in Mayotte. A 62-year-old woman died on Saturday in Mamoudzou, raising the number of deaths linked to the disease in Mayotte to two, the Regional Health Agency (ARS) said on Sunday. The woman died “at her home in the highlands of Kawani district in Mamoudzou,” an ARS press release said.
“As per the cholera control protocol, task forces rushed to the spot to disinfect the house and take care of the loved ones of the deceased,” she adds. “Operations to vaccinate contact cases have been carried out since” this Sunday.
It is the second death linked to the epidemic in Mayotte, the poorest of the French departments located in the Indian Ocean. On May 8, a three-year-old child died from cholera, which has sickened several dozen people in Mayotte in recent months.
The first cases of cholera in the territory were recorded in mid-March in people returning from the neighboring Comoros islands, where an epidemic is breaking out. In Mayotte, the first “native” cases, diagnosed in patients who did not leave the French island, 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 spread through contaminated water or food. There are effective vaccines and treatments.
Source: Le Parisien
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