French President Emmanuel Macron has promised more support to fight chikungunya on La Réunion, after a baby died from the virus – the seventh death in an outbreak that has infected tens of thousands since August 2024.
The infant, less than one month old, died on Sunday at the Saint-Pierre University Hospital.
Since the outbreak on the French Indian Ocean territory began, 35,000 cases have been confirmed, though regional health authorities (ARS) estimate the actual number could be as high as 100,000.
Macron visited La Réunion after a stop in Mayotte. While in the island’s capital, Saint-Denis, he met local officials to discuss the crisis. He called the epidemic “a huge public health problem”.
Macron said vaccine doses were now available and urged people to take protective measures, especially pregnant women.
Children at risk
Chikungunya is caused by a virus spread by Aedes mosquitoes. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the symptoms are similar to dengue and Zika. This makes it easy to misdiagnose, and hard for countries to know the exact number of infections.
The virus particularly threatens young children, with a quarter of hospitalisations involving infants under six months. The six previous deaths were among individuals over 70 years old with pre-existing conditions.
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About 40,000 doses of the Ixchiq vaccine have arrived on the island. The vaccine, recently approved for use in Europe, is mainly being given to people over 65 with other health conditions.
Macron posted a message on X: “Faced with chikungunya in La Réunion, our military personnel are mobilized to strengthen the fight against mosquitoes. Let’s remain vigilant and vaccinate the most vulnerable.”
Health officials admit the vaccination campaign started slowly but say efforts are ongoing. They continue to urge people to protect themselves from mosquito bites.
While serious, this outbreak has so far caused fewer cases and deaths than the 2005–2006 epidemic, which killed over 250 people.
(with newswires)
