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As of May 5, 2023, Santé publique France draws attention to the resurgence of chikungunya and dengue cases in Latin America reported by the WHO.
The global circulation of the chikungunya virus leads to the potential return of viremic patients to mainland France, particularly in departments where Aedes albopictus is established. These viremic individuals may be bitten by Aedes albopictus and thus trigger a transmission cycle.
History of the Chikungunya Virus
The chikungunya virus was first identified in 1952–1953 in Tanzania. Since then, it has been responsible for major epidemics in Asia, the Indian Ocean, Africa, and, since late 2014, in the Caribbean and Central and South America.
The years 2005–2006 were marked by very intense circulation of this virus in the Indian Ocean region. The epidemic began in Kenya as early as 2004 and then spread to the Comoros in January 2005 (estimated prevalence of 215,000 cases, or 27% of the population) before spreading to Réunion, Mayotte, Mauritius, and the Seychelles (9,000 cases) in 2005. In 2006, the epidemic then spread to Madagascar, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives (12,000 cases), as well as to Pakistan and Malaysia. Viral circulation was particularly high in India, with an estimated 1.4 million cases.
Since then, a resurgence in the number of cases has been reported in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, as well as in Malaysia in 2008 and 2009 (an estimated 4,000 and 5,000 cases, respectively), in Sri Lanka in 2008 (17,000 cases), in Myanmar in 2009, in the Maldives in 2008 (600 cases), in Thailand (42,000 cases) in 2008–2009, and in Indonesia, particularly in 2009–2010, in Lampung (12,000 cases), in southern Sumatra. In India, since 2007, outbreaks (much less severe than in 2006) have been reported in certain regions. The long-lasting immunity conferred by infection likely explains the decrease in the scale of outbreaks since 2006 in this country.
In 2010, for the first time, China reported locally acquired cases (200 cases) in a southern province (Guangdong), and the first two locally acquired cases of chikungunya in France (Fréjus) were reported in September 2010.
In Africa, chikungunya has caused numerous epidemics from Senegal to Cameroon, as well as in Angola, Nigeria, Uganda, Guinea, Malawi, the Central African Republic, and Burundi, among others. The Democratic Republic of the Congo reported a major epidemic in 1999–2000 (50,000 cases). Gabon has reported several outbreaks: primarily in Libreville in 2007 (18,000 cases), and in the southwestern part of the country in 2010, where the chikungunya virus circulated simultaneously with the dengue virus.
In Europe, a case of chikungunya imported from India to Italy in 2007 led to the first epidemic described in Europe. The approximately 300 identified cases highlighted the risk of establishing a local transmission cycle of the virus in certain areas of Southern Europe where Aedes albopictus is established.
In 2011, indigenous cases, secondary to the introduction of a case imported from Indonesia, were reported in New Caledonia, mainly in Nouméa (30 cases as of May 30, 2011). In New Caledonia, the identified vector is Aedes aegypti, and the circulating strain belongs to the Asian lineage, lacking the mutation observed during the 2005–2006 epidemic that struck the Indian Ocean.
Since 2014, South and Central America have also been the site of epidemics.
Overall, the chikungunya virus circulates throughout the entire intertropical zone, where it can cause epidemic outbreaks.
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