France reports nearly 200 cholera cases in Mayotte

PARIS, (AFP) — Paris on Friday reported nearly 200 cases of cholera on the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, which is struggling to contain the deadly epidemic.

“As of June 18, 2024, 193 cases of cholera have been reported in Mayotte,” France’s SPF public health agency reported in its weekly update.

Of those, 172 were locally acquired cases, while 21 were in people infected abroad in the neighboring Comoros archipelago and countries on the African continent.

Cholera is an infectious disease typically causing severe diarrhea, vomiting and muscle cramps. It spreads easily in unsanitary conditions.

Mayotte, which is home to around 320,000 people, reported its first locally acquired cases of cholera in late April.

Two people have died since the beginning of the epidemic, one of them a three-year-old girl.