Disabling and sometimes chronic symptoms
Rarely fatal, chikungunya nevertheless causes joint damage, sometimes very disabling. They affect the wrists, fingers, ankles, feet, knees, sometimes the hips and shoulders. Associated with this are fever, severe muscle pain, rash, and inflammation of the cervical lymph nodes. Severe forms are neurological; meningoencephalitis and peripheral nerve damage. The chronic form of the disease, which can persist for months or even years, affects 43% of symptomatic people (around 75% of infected people).
High risk of an epidemic in mainland France
Chikungunya is a tropical disease, clearly increasing throughout the world, America, Africa, southeast Asia but also in Europe. According to ANSES, the probability of an epidemic of dengue, Zika or chikungunya occurring within 5 years in France is considered quite “high”.
The vaccine received marketing authorization in Europe in July 2024, approved in 2023 in the United States and more recently in Canada. It is indicated for adults only and should be administered in a single dose. It is contraindicated in immunocompromised people. The clinical effectiveness of the vaccine was evaluated in a study whose results were published in The Lancet: 98.9% of participants presented virus-neutralizing antibodies 28 days after vaccination. They were 96.3% 6 months later.
According to an OpinionWay survey carried out for Valvena France, 56% of French people said they would be ready to be vaccinated if vaccination against chikungunya was possible. Currently, the vaccine is not reimbursed by Health Insurance.
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