Leptospirosis and chikungunya: The population explosion of rodents worries in Rose-Hill

⢠Despite its good will, the town hall is struggling to declare war on the owners leaving their land in an abandoned state⢠Leptospirosis, with 20 cases recorded (3 active), claims its fifth victim⢠2051 cases of Chikungunya have been recorded across the country since January, including 168 active cases as of April 30. The figures are dizzying: 2,051 cases of Chikungunya have been recorded across the country since January, including 168 active cases as of April 30. They are mainly reported in several neighborhoods of Rose-Hill and, to a lesser degree, Quatre-Bornes. Leptospirosis, with 20 cases recorded (three active), also remains under close surveillance, especially since it claimed its fifth victim on Friday. How can we explain this large-scale proliferation, despite the response of local communities... between cleaning up fallow land, fumigation and release of sterile mosquitoes? Our trip this week to Rose-Hill – where the Ministry of Health has identified 96 places likely to represent an ideal breeding ground for rats and mosquitoes, vectors of the two diseases in question – has highlighted a element: despite its good will, the town hall is struggling to declare war on negligent owners who leave their land in an abandoned state and where waste has abounded for many months. In addition to mosquito bites, certain rodents, as big as cats, haunt local residents... even cats are afraid of them! Chikungunya and leptospirosis are increasingly occupying people's minds in Mauritius. Joint damage, headaches, accompanied by fever, severe muscle pain, skin rashes on the limbs, etc. Those who have experienced the horrors of chikungunya in the past and who are de facto immune to it wish to throw all their weight into this prevention and communication campaign with their neighbors. "Certainly, unlike leptospirosis, chikungunya is not fatal, but having been confronted With the suffering and after-effects that this has inflicted on me in the past, I worry about my loved ones. Worse, with leptospirosis, which is caused by a bacteria present in the urine of rats, there is the beginning of psychosis in my entourage,” confides a resident of the center of Rose-Hill, where it is well understood that the said diseases are on their merry way, even if the sword of Damocles hangs over other regions of the island. Concern is gaining ground, accentuated by the recent death linked to leptospirosis, of a man of sixty years old, professional gardener, living in Montagne-Blanche. As a result, faced with the illegal dumping of waste which continues to spread on fallow land, even at the edge of the roadways, at Rose-Hill, we explored the different challenges posed by the explosion.