According to the latest InVS report, eight months after the start of the chikungunya epidemic in the West Indies, the progression of the virus is stalling in the French islands. On the other hand, it is intensifying in Guyana.
After eight months of intense activity in the French West Indies, could the chikungunya epidemic be marking time? In any case, this was revealed on Friday by the Interregional Epidemiology Unit (CIRE) of the Institute for Sanitary Surveillance (InVS) which indicates that the progression of the virus is stalling in the French Caribbean islands, in Saint-Martin, Saint-Barthélémy, Martinique or Guadeloupe.
Martinique and Guadeloupe are experiencing a respite
In detail, she notes that in Martinique, “the epidemic continues but the downward trend has been confirmed over the past two weeks. The balance sheet there therefore shows 55,920 cases and 19 deaths recorded since the start of the epidemic.
The same is true in Guadeloupe, and in its nearby islands, where “the decrease in viral circulation observed since the beginning of July has been confirmed,” says InVS, which nevertheless recorded 73,120 people affected (and therefore immune) and nine. death.
Finally, in Saint-Barthélemy too, “viral circulation has been declining for three weeks,” she notes.
In French Guiana, the circulation of the virus is progressing
However, in this review of CIRE carried out overseas, there is also some bad news. As in the French part of Saint-Martin, the first outbreak detected in mid-December, where “viral circulation has remained stable and moderate in recent weeks. »Results: 3,860 cases identified and three deaths recorded.
Worse still in Guyana, where “the circulation of the virus continues to increase, because new foci have been identified”. For the moment, 1,665 cases have been identified in this department of 230,000 inhabitants.
Interviewed by Agence France Presse Christian Meurin, director general of the Regional Health Agency of Guyana, however, wants to be reassuring.
“Our situation is not at all comparable to that of the West Indies. There is no widespread spread, ”he commented. According to him, this is explained “by outbreaks which have intensified mainly in Cayenne which concentrates 55% of cases. Swarming in the neighboring towns of Matoury and Macouria, ”he continued.
31 deaths overseas since the start of the epidemic
In total, since the start of the epidemic, 135,425 people have been affected by the chikungunya virus in these French overseas departments. And thirty-one of them even died from this disease. tropical infectious.
So, in an attempt to stem the spread of the virus which continues in Guyana, measures have been taken against the threat posed by the some 15,000 wrecks of vehicles of all kinds, abandoned in private land, and which are perfect sites for reproduction for the tiger mosquito.
In addition, the mayors of Guyanese municipalities have recently relaunched waste collection through social mobilization in the neighborhoods and dumpsters have been made available.
And in the littoral fringe of this territory, where the inhabitants of slums do not have running water, caches have been distributed to block the barrels used to make reserves, where mosquitoes Aedes nestle. Finally, an interministerial decree authorizes since the beginning of August the derogatory use of an insecticide banned in Europe. This is malathion.
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