a 3-year-old child dies of cholera, first death since the appearance of cases in March in the territory

The teams are “proceeding with the treatment of the entourage” of this young victim, specify the prefecture and the regional health agency in a press release.

A 3-year-old child died of cholera in Mayotte, announced the regional health agency and the prefecture in a press release on Wednesday May 8. This is the first death recorded in the territory since the detection of a first case on March 19. He lived in the Koungou district, where “several cases of cholera had been identified in recent weeks”explains the press release, and where the regional health agency had deployed a screening center and mobile vaccination units. “The intervention teams went to the site to treat those close to the child”specify the local authorities.

The Liot deputy for the first constituency of Mayotte, Estelle Youssouffa, now evokes a “emergency”in a message posted on the social network X: “I ask Gabriel Attal for massive vaccination and tablets to disinfect water as well as hydroalcoholic gel, distribution of bottled water”. The parliamentarian also requests the “closure of the border at sea to prevent the entry of illegal patients from the Comoros”.

At the microphone of France Inter, Estelle Youssouffa declares that it is “tragic to think that a child died of cholera in a slum in a French department in 2024. What is even more serious is that we saw it coming”she laments. “We are always faced with authorities who are late, who minimize”, regrets the chosen one. They believe that the authorities “make decisions at the last moment when human lives are at stake”. She recalls the situation on site: “We always have water cuts” And “a single hospital with five emergency doctors”. An observation which highlights “the entire population in danger”according to her.

The Minister of Health, Frédéric Valletoux, will be in Mayotte on Thursday and Friday where, according to the latest ARS report dated May 6, 58 cases of cholera have been identified. The first cases were recorded among migrants, some of whom came from neighboring Comoros. 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.