HMN 2025: How WHO sounds alarm on threat of chikungunya epidemic

The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday a significant chikungunya virus epidemic dangers sweeping across the globe, calling for pressing motion to forestall it.

The WHO mentioned it was choosing up precisely the identical early warning indicators as in a significant outbreak 20 years in the past and needed to forestall a repeat.

Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral illness that causes fever and extreme joint ache, which is usually debilitating. In some instances it may be lethal.

“Chikungunya will not be a illness that’s extensively recognized, nevertheless it has been detected and transmitted in 119 international locations globally, placing 5.6 billion individuals in danger,” mentioned the WHO’s Diana Rojas Alvarez.

She recalled how from 2004 to 2005, a significant chikungunya epidemic swept throughout the Indian Ocean, hitting small island territories earlier than spreading globally and affecting virtually half one million individuals.

“Today, WHO is seeing the identical sample emerge: because the starting of 2025, Reunion, Mayotte and Mauritius have all reported main chikungunya outbreaks. One-third of the inhabitants of Reunion is estimated to have been contaminated already,” she advised a press briefing in Geneva.

‘Raising the alarm’

The signs of chikungunya are much like these of dengue fever and Zika virus illness, making it tough to diagnose, in response to the WHO.

Rojas Alvarez mentioned that like 20 years in the past, the virus was now spreading to different locations within the area, resembling Madagascar, Somalia and Kenya.

“Epidemic transmission can also be occurring in south Asia,” she added.

In Europe, imported instances have additionally been reported, linked with the outbreak within the Indian Ocean islands. Local transmission has been reported in France, and suspected instances detected in Italy.

“Because these patterns of transmission have been seen within the outbreak from 2004 onwards, WHO is looking for pressing motion to forestall historical past from repeating itself,” mentioned Rojas Alvarez.

She famous that the case fatality charge was lower than 1%, “however once you begin counting tens of millions of instances, that 1% may be hundreds” of deaths.

“We are elevating the alarm early so international locations can put together early, detect and strengthen all of the capacities to keep away from going via very massive outbreaks.”

Tiger mosquitoes

Rojas Alvarez defined that in areas where populations have little or no immunity, the virus can rapidly trigger important epidemics, affecting as much as three-quarters of the inhabitants.

Chikungunya virus is transmitted to people by the bites of contaminated feminine mosquitoes, mostly Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes.

The latter, which is called the tiger mosquito, is venturing farther north because the world warms due to human-driven local weather change.

They chunk primarily throughout daytime, with peak exercise usually within the early morning and late afternoon.

The WHO urged individuals to guard themselves via measures like utilizing mosquito repellent and never leaving water to stagnate in containers resembling buckets, where mosquitoes can breed.

© 2025 AFP