French Indian Ocean island Mayotte reports local cholera cases

Mamoudzou: Mayotte, a French island in the IndianOcean, on Friday reported its first locally acquired cases of cholera, in addition to 10 imported cas...

Mamoudzou: Mayotte, a French island in the Indian Ocean, on Friday reported its first locally acquired cases of cholera, in addition to 10 imported cases detected over the past month.

The ARS health authority said the three new patients were probably contaminated through contact with a sick person who failed to seek treatment.

Cholera is an infectious disease typically causing severe diarrhoea, vomiting and muscle cramps and spreads easily under insufficient sanitation conditions.

ARS director Olivier Brahic told a news conference that the three cases were detected in the region of Koungou in the island's northeast. They are a woman, a man and a baby, who are unrelated to each other.

A campaign to identify further cases, administer antibiotics and vaccinate people in the area would begin shortly, Brahic said. Additional medical staff were expected to arrive on Saturday.