A large outbreak of conjunctivitis on Mayotte Island, France, February to May 2012

T Lernout; O Maillard; S Boireaux; L Collet; L Filleul

doi:10.2807/ese.17.23.20192-en

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A large outbreak of conjunctivitis on Mayotte Island, France, February to May 2012
T Lernout¹ , O Maillard² , S Boireaux² , L Collet² , L Filleul¹
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Affiliations: ¹ Regional office of the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (Institut de veille sanitaire-InVS), Mayotte, France ² Hospital Centre of Mayotte, Mayotte, France

Correspondence:
T Lernout
Tinne.LERNOUT ars.sante.fr
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Citation style for this article: Lernout T, Maillard O, Boireaux S, Collet L, Filleul L. A large outbreak of conjunctivitis on Mayotte Island, France, February to May 2012. Euro Surveill. 2012;17(23):pii=20192. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.17.23.20192-en Received: 01 Jun 2012

Abstract

From February to May 2012, Mayotte experienced an outbreak of acute conjunctivitis with over 12,000 estimated cases, causing a significant burden on the primary healthcare system. It was most certainly caused by a coxsackievirus, as documented by isolation from a symptomatic traveller from the Comoros Islands in France. Tropical climate and poor hygiene conditions facilitate the spread of infectious diseases on Mayotte and in the region with risk of further exportation to mainland France and Europe.