With more than 90,000 cases of chikungunya recorded since December 2013 in the West Indies and Guyana and six deaths in Guadeloupe linked to the disease (only one “directly linked”), the epidemic is wreaking havoc. In mainland France, there were 148 cases between May 1 and July 11, 2014, and 18 departments are under increased surveillance. On a visit to Guadeloupe and Martinique, the Minister of Health, Marisol Touraine, announced that the treatment would be covered one hundred percent by the Health Insurance.
“I made two decisions: one hundred percent reimbursement of painkillers and fever medication upon presentation of a chikungunya prescription and the elimination of waiting days for repeated work stoppages”, linked to the bent man disease, said the minister.
The General Social Security Fund of Guadeloupe has noted a 40% increase in the number of work stoppages since the start of the epidemic in Guadeloupe. It should be noted that 70% of Guadeloupe employees do not benefit from subrogation measures from their employers. When they are forced into repeated work stoppages, as is the case with the chikungunyaso they lose a lot of money.
The risk in mainland France
At the beginning of July, the minister defined three major risks: “that of an aggravation in the West Indies and an extension in Guyana because of the rains; that of an importation of the virus into mainland France where the vector mosquito is present in 18 departments; and that of less good access to care if the number of patients increases and doctors go on leave.
Not to mention an epidemic in mainland France, 148 cases of imported chikungunya were confirmed between May 1 and July 11, 2014 and 427 remain suspect, according to the figures given this week by the Institut de Veille Sanitaire(INVS).
Even if no “indigenous” case (that is to say affecting someone who has not traveled to a region where the disease is present) has been proven, nearly 400,000 metropolitans are expected in the West Indies during the summer break. What to stay on his guard, for the Minister of Health.
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