In a study published this Thursday, December 12, researchers from the National Reference Center for Vibrios and Cholera of the Pasteur Institute, in collaboration with the Mayotte Hospital Center, highlight the spread on the island of a strain of cholera from Yemen.
Between March and July, the island of Mayotte was effectively affected by a cholera epidemic caused by this strain that is highly resistant to antibiotics. A total of 221 people were affected by the disease. Five died.
“This study highlights the need to strengthen global surveillance of the cholera agent and in particular to be able to know its behavior against antibiotics in real time,” indicates the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine..
First cases in Yemen in 2018 and 2019
The strain present in Mayotte was first identified in Yemen during the 2018-2019 cholera epidemic. It would be resistant to ten antibiotics, including two of the three usually recommended for the treatment of cholera, the study indicates.
After Yemen, this same strain was detected in Lebanon in 2022, in Kenya in 2023 and finally in Tanzania and the Comoros, including Mayotte, a French department located off the southeastern coast of Africa, in 2024.
On October 7, the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of the overseas territory announced in a press release that the epidemic had “ended”, indicating that a “significant level of surveillance” must be maintained at entry points to the territory. and. the island.
The end of the epidemic was possible in particular thanks to the detection of all suspected cases, the treatment of all hospitalized patients and the vaccination of 35,000 people, the ARS reported in its press release.
Source: BFM TV
