The beginning of an epidemic? In the space of 72 hours, between Friday, April 26 and Monday, April 29, the number of confirmed cases of cholera in Mayotte simply doubled. The department’s Regional Health Agency (ARS) now reports 29 confirmed infections since mid-March and the start of the health alert.
Bastien Morvan, chief of staff at ARS Mayotte, highlights to BFMTV.com the localized aspect of the cases. “They were all notified in the same commune, Koungou, north of Mayotte,” he says, pointing out an “increase” in recent days.
These are also “native” cases, which occurred in situ, unlike the first cases imported from the Comoros. But how and why does this bacteria, the Vibrio choleraeit spreads?
“A disease that follows human misfortunes”
Overall, the world is currently experiencing its seventh cholera pandemic. “This has been happening for 60 years,” Professor François-Xavier Weill, director of the national reference center for vibrios and cholera at the Pasteur Institute, tells BFMTV.com. Several cases are even recorded each year in metropolitan France.
“This bacteria benefits from a reservoir in South Asia, spreads through population movements and is favored by poor hygiene and wastewater sanitation,” he points out. Therefore, the disease can be transmitted directly from person to person, but also through water sources contaminated with human waste.
One of the recent examples of the spread of the bacteria is the epidemic in Haiti, after the earthquake of October 2010. Blue helmets from Nepal brought the bacteria to an area already mired in an unprecedented humanitarian and health crisis.
“It is a disease that follows human misfortunes,” summarizes François-Xavier Weill.
A consequence of the water crisis?
Greywater management is particularly important. Infected people suffer “terrible vomiting and diarrhea” loaded with bacteria. Therefore, poor management of this waste can cause more infections. Therefore, access to clear, clean, drinkable water is essential.
The availability of water is also a recurring issue in Mayotte. One day in three, the drinking water network is interrupted, as the deputy of the LR department, Mansour Kamardine, points out in X. But is there a link?
The water distributed in the network is drinkable and “is subject to periodic and systematic monitoring,” as recalled by the ARS, which sees “no problem in this regard.” However, it highlights the vulnerability of people who are not connected to this network.
“In general, the explanation (for this multiplication of cases, ed.) is multifactorial (…) we are facing cholera transmissions that can result from a lack of hygiene, with contamination of the hands,” suggests the ARS executive. Mayotte.
Overloaded health services
Treatment of patients is relatively easy. Disease-related mortality was curbed thanks to a patient rehydration protocol, sometimes combined with taking antibiotics. But in Mayotte, as ARS points out, “there is a very low density of health professionals.” Therefore, the current health crisis is putting staff to the test.
There are currently two “cholera units” active to treat the sick. “The CHM had to close part of the activity of its dispensaries and its first non-urgent consultations in order to guarantee the activity of this second anti-cholera unit,” explains Bastien Morvan. Reinforcements are also expected in the coming days to alleviate needs in the hospital but also on the ground.
In addition to treatment, caregivers are mobilized to “suppress any spread of the disease.” Screening efforts, vaccinations, and patrols providing good advice, such as handwashing, are mobilized.
Source: BFM TV
