The chikungunya epidemic that rages in Reunion has already killed two. While the peak is expected this week, hospitals on the island are already under tension, as noted by Franceinfo Tuesday April 14. Because the peculiarity of this virus, transmitted by infected mosquitoes, is rather long hospitalization, seven to ten days on average. There is the example of Alain, 77, hospitalized on the CHU website in Saint-Pierre a week ago. The chikungunya weakened him so much that he fell to him. “I no longer have force, all the joints are stuck, feet difficult to put, I find it difficult to walk”.
In the hospital, the majority of patients are, like Alain, the elderly, patients with chronic diseases, but also babies. About fifteen is in intensive care, explains Doctor Rodolphe Manaquin, the head of the Immunology infectiology pole. “There are very very serious forms in newborns, especially in peri-partition, just after childbirth, in a woman already affected by chikungunya. There are also severe forms in babies under six months, or even less than two months, with hospitalizations in neonatal resuscitation which are dramatic”. “We are probably at the peak of the epidemic”, explains Doctor Rodolphe Manaquin.
“We expect a third of the population to be impacted. These are epidemics that are intense in terms of the volume of patients, but relatively brief in terms of time. So a third of the population over a short time, it necessarily impacts the health system.”
Doctor Rodolphe Manaquinin Franceinfo
As everywhere in France, the lack of beds is also felt in Reunion, according to Doctor Philippe Ocquidant, medical director of CHU crisis. “We usually have a lack of beds, so when we add a crisis like this, an infectious problem, we find ourselves in great difficulty in hospitalizing patients. Often, they stay on emergency stretcards”. To this is also added the problem of sick personnel “This weekend, I had seven nurses and a nursing assistant absent in my service because of the chikungunya”. In total, almost a quarter of the service is sick.
Many surgical operations have been postponed to make room for patients. Chikungunya patients are now distributed in all hospital services. Doctor Ocquidant now calls for the help of the health reserve. “”We have teams that are so much at the end of the last cyclone, Garance. We have a chronic capacity crisis and now we have chikungunya. We need the health reserve because you find paramedical staff, as many medical staff are not found in the department to help us. General practitioners are already overwhelmed “.
Fortunately, the doctors say, the residents of the meeting are used to Chikungunya. Even if it is a “Very bad time to spend”only the most seriously affected are in hospital, which limits the number of patients to be taken care of.
This epidemic gives rise to studies carried out by hospital physicians in Reunion. The first will focus on the effectiveness of the vaccine, on a large scale and real life, the second on population membership in vaccination, and is open to everyone, vaccinated or not, on this link.
