Plagues, Pestilences and Diseases
Deadly Chikungunya virus outbreak in France sparks alert
September 26, 2010 - 10:24PM
AFP
French health authorities have asked doctors on the Riviera to be on
the alert after a second case was detected in the region this weekend
of the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus.
Two 12-year-old girls in the town of Frejus have caught the virus that
causes fever, headaches and arthritic-type symptoms that leave victims
stooped, officials said on Sunday.
They noted that both cases were "native," meaning that the victims had
not travelled to the parts of eastern Africa, southeast Asia or the
Indian subcontinent were the virus is widespread.
The first ever "native" cases of dengue fever were detected in the
French Riviera region earlier this month when two people were diagnosed
with the disease that causes a flu-like illness for most victims but
which can sometimes be deadly.
Dengue is carried by the same tiger mosquito that transmits the
chikungunya virus. The insect has moved north in recent years.
There is no known vaccine or treatment for chikungunya, which has
infected millions of people in Africa and Asia and can cause
debilitating pain and, in extreme cases, death.
A region in Italy suffered an outbreak of chikungunya that hit 240
people over a two-month period.
An outbreak on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion in 2005
infected a quarter of the population in less than two years, causing
some 250 deaths.