Chikungunya in Reunion: still “a high level of transmission”, but some signs of decline
By The New Obs with AFP
Published on
A soldier in operation against mosquitoes in Reunion Island, April 22, 2025. JEANNE ACCORSINI/SIPA
The chikungunya epidemic in Réunion remains at "a high level of transmission" despite a slight decline in certain indicators, the public health agency indicated on Wednesday, April 30, while the authorities' management of the crisis has fueled a war of words in the Assembly.
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In general medicine, chikungunya-related activity remains at "a very high level" , with more than 23,300 consultations from April 21 to 27 and more than 160,000 since the beginning of 2025, according to the latest report from Santé publique France (SpF). In hospitals, the dynamics of the epidemic vary from one area to another with "a decrease in emergency room visits in the South (but still at a high level), in the West and East, and a trend towards stabilization in the North" , she specified.
Nine chikungunya-related deaths among people over 70 years old with comorbidities have been recorded by the health agency. Twenty other deaths, including that of an infant, are under investigation, according to the new report. And, to date, 57 serious cases have been reported, mainly among people over 65 with comorbidities and infants under three months old.
A first vaccineSince the beginning of the year, 2,139 emergency room visits due to chikungunya have been recorded in the island's four hospitals, including 332 during the week of April 21 to 27, compared to 389 the previous week, a decline in both adults and infants.
The number of confirmed cases also decreased, from 5,542 to 3,245 in one week, but this provisional number could increase, SpF specifies. Nearly 120,000 people have been infected by the virus, transmitted by the tiger mosquito , since the beginning of the year in Reunion, according to ARS estimates.
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