Chikungunya virus confirmed

Madagascar has acknowledged the presence of the debilitating mosquito-borne chikungunya virus, which has affected some 180,000 people on the neighbouring Indian Ocean island of Reunion. Minister of Health Jean Louis Robinson announced on Saturday that Madagascar was facing both an epidemic of dengue fever - a flu-like illness - and "very sporadic" cases of chikungunya, which has been linked to 93 deaths on Reunion. Dr Lamina Arthur, director of disease control at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Madagascar, told IRIN "the simultaneous existence of dengue and chikungunya make it very difficult to provide exact figures on [the prevalence of] each, as they exhibit nearly identical symptoms and are spread by the same mosquito [Aedes aegypti]." Since last year, chikungunya fever has spread among Indian Ocean islands, beginning in Comoros and affecting Reunion, Mauritius and the Seychelles. Chikungunya ('that which bends up' in Kiswahili) is believed to have originated in Tanzania. In early February, media reports suggested that increased cases of "unexplained fever" in Madagascar's coastal regions were evidence of the chikungunya virus having arrived. A Ministry of Health team visited Toamasina, the worst affected town on the east coast, where stocks of fever and pain medication had been exhausted, to investigate. The first samples sent for testing to the Pasteur Institute in France, came back negative for chikungunya. However, a second batch detected a limited presence of the virus. According to WHO, the main preventative measure is to stop proliferation of mosquitoes by reducing their breeding grounds. Both Mauritius and the Seychelles have instituted public awareness campaigns and extensive cleanup operations.