Reunion death toll hits 93

2006-03-03 17:02

Paris - A mosquito-borne disease that has hit the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion has claimed 93 lives, and almost a quarter of the population has been affected, Health Minister Xavier Bertrand said on Friday.

The toll of 93 amounted to people whose death was directly or indirectly attributable to the disease, known as chikungunya, he said.

A total of 186 000 people have fallen sick with the disease in the course of the epidemic, he said. Reunion has a population of 777 000.

France has committed emergency health and economic aid worth €91m to Reunion to help it fight the scourge.

Cases have also been recorded in the nearby French island of Mayotte, as well as in the Indian Ocean islands of Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles, and among a small number of Reunionnais arriving in mainland France.

Chikungunya's name derives from a Swahili word meaning "that which bends up" because of its arthritic-type symptoms that leave victims stooped.

Some 500 French troops have already been deployed in Reunion to help health workers spray mosquito breeding areas.

Reunion is an ethnically diverse department of France which lies to the east of Madagascar, with an economy based on agriculture.

- AFP