Published
Video length: 2 min
Cholera epidemic in Mayotte: how to respond?
As the cholera epidemic grows in Mayotte, Damien Mascret, doctor and journalist from France Télévisions, is present on the 20 Heures set, Monday April 29. He particularly discusses the means of responding to this epidemic.
(France 2)
As the cholera epidemic grows in Mayotte, Damien Mascret, doctor and journalist from France Télévisions, is present on the 20 Heures set, Monday April 29. He particularly discusses the means of responding to this epidemic.
In Mayotte, the cholera epidemic is growing. The alert was triggered on Friday April 26. Since then, the number of cases has increased from 13 to 26. Present on the 20 Heures set on Monday, Damien Mascret, doctor and journalist from France Télévisions, first explains that cholera is “a bacteria which will cause gastroenteritis, sometimes very severe”. Damien Mascret recalls that there has already been an epidemic on the neighboring islands of the Comoros for several weeks.
The need to “have access to healthy water”
The virus can be transmitted in particular through contaminated water or food. “We will have to do two things, and that is what we are going to do in Mayotte”, continues the doctor. Firstly, for the population it is about“have access to healthy water”. Then, it is necessary “screen all the sick”. “The treatment to avoid serious cases (…) is to rehydrate quickly, intensely”explains the journalist, adding that it is also necessary to give an antibiotic to mitigate the epidemic.
