Health scare for Madagascar

2006-02-02 11:29

Antananarivo - Madagascan health officials said on Wednesday they fear an outbreak of an incurable crippling mosquito-borne disease that has ravaged the nearby Indian Ocean island of Reunion.

Dozens of people showing possible symptoms of the viral infection known as "chikungunya" have flocked to the main hospital on the island's second city of Toamasina since last week, prompting authorities to test for the illness.

"The patients have fever but I cannot yet say whether they are suffering from malaria or chikungunya, it is just a suspicion," said Dr Givance, the hospital chief.

Roland Rajonson, the secretary general of Madagascar's health ministry, told AFP that physicians from the capital had been sent to Toamasina on the east coast to look into the matter and would report back by the end of the week.

30 000 feared infected

"Yesterday (Tuesday), we deployed a team of doctors to the ground to investigate whether there were real cases of chikungunya," he said.

"To be really sure it is chikungunya, we must analyse blood samples," said Jean Marc Reynes a virologist in Antananarivo.

Chikungunya is Swahili for "that which bends up" and refers to the stooped posture of those afflicted by the crippling and extremely painful disease for which there is no known vaccine or cure.

It is characterised by high fever and severe rashes, and while non-fatal in itself and most people eventually recover, it can provide opportunities for other diseases to set in.

Chikungunya outbreaks have sparked deep concerns in the French overseas territory of Reunion, about 800km east of Madagascar, where at least 30 000 people are thought to have been taken ill since March.

The disease is suspected of having been a contributory cause of death in four people in their nineties.

Officials there estimate that 5 000 new cases have occurred since mid-January, prompting the French authorities to assign 400 more troops to efforts to combat the mosquitoes that are spreading the virus.

Authorities in Reunion have delayed the beginning of the new school term in order to decontaminate schools and the island's tourism industry has expressed concern that the outbreak could hurt business.

- AFP