In Reunion, three new people die from Chikungunya, the provisional assessment goes nine dead – Liberation

The balance sheet is increasing. Three new deaths « Linked to chikungunya » were recorded in Reunion, bringing the number of deaths since the start of the epidemicannounced this Wednesday, April 23 Public Health France in its weekly bulletin on Wednesday, April 23.

« Since the start of the year, nine deaths that occurred between weeks 11 and 14 (From March 10 to April 6, editor’s note) In people over the age of 70 carrying comorbidities have been classified as linked to chikungunya ”indicates the health agency, adding that « Nine other deaths »including a neonatal, are being investigated to determine if they are linked to the virus.

The epidemic is « Stabilizes at a high level of transmission »adds Public Health France, according to which more than 39,000 confirmed cases in Chikungunya have been reported in Reunion since the start of the year. From April 7 to 13, the last week for which the data is known, 350 emergencies were recorded against 289 the previous week, an increase of 21 %.

The number of confirmed cases recorded over the same period is down, from 6,237 to 4,304, but Public Health France specifies that this number is not consolidated and that it could therefore prove to be higher.

In total, « 47 serious cases of chikungunya have been reported mainly in the elderly or infants requiring intensive care management »underlines the health agency. These were 27 adults over the age of 65, three people with comorbidities and 17 infants under three months of age.

Until then, 261 hospitalizations exceeding 24 hours have been reported, almost half of whom concerned people over 65, and a quarter of the under 6 months old, the health agency said.

There is no specific treatment against the disease, but A vaccination campaign was launched in early April. Some 40,000 doses of the IXCHIQ vaccine, the first having obtained a marketing authorization in Europe, arrived in Reunion and 60,000 additional doses were purchased.

But the countryside « Start timidly »with approximately 3,000 people already vaccinated, the director general of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) said on Tuesday, Gérard COOLLON, to Emmanuel Macron on the move on the island. According to the Minister of Health Yannick Neuder, also on site, « Around 120,000 » people may have been contaminated by chikungunya, a disease transmitted by the tiger mosquito.

Before the current outbreak, no case of Chikungunya had been reported since 2010 in Reunion since 2010. A large epidemic had touched 260,000 people there and left more than 200 dead between 2005 and 2006.