Chikungunya: Authorities fear importation of the epidemic into mainland France

Could the chikungunya epidemic raging in Réunion Island be imported into mainland France? While the number of consultations and emergency room visits for chikungunya are down for the third consecutive week on the Indian Ocean island, imported cases in mainland France are very high.

The beginning of the year is "marked by a particularly increased risk of importation and circulation of the chikungunya virus in mainland France due to the current epidemics in the territories of Réunion and Mayotte ," the Ministry of Health stated in a press release published on Thursday, May 15. This situation raises fears of the establishment of indigenous circulation of these diseases in the coming weeks.

Since January, Public Health France (SPF) has already recorded more than 900 imported cases of chikungunya, i.e. people who were infected in these overseas territories of the Indian Ocean and who were diagnosed upon their return to mainland France – compared to only 34 cases in 2024. However, "with the arrival of weather conducive to the activity of the vector mosquito, the current period in mainland France is considered to be the period at risk of local transmission" , underlines SPF in the weekly bulletin published Wednesday . "This summer, the number of cases risks exploding" , warns Anna-Bella Failloux, head of the arbovirus and insect vector unit at the Pasteur Institute in Paris.

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