the prefect on the ground at Étang-Salé

As of January 13 of this year, 192 indigenous cases have been recorded since August 23, 2024. This is far from the 50,000 weekly cases encountered in 2005. But the number of people infected with the chikungunya virus continues to grow. The four municipalities most particularly affected are Saint-Paul, le Tampon, Saint-Pierre and l’Étang-Salé. In the latter, 90 cases were recorded. Every week, residents are infected.

This is the reason why the prefect, surrounded by the director of ARS Réunion and the mayor Mathieu Hoarau, went to this commune in the south-west to launch a general mobilization.

Watch the report from Réunion la 1ère:

Mosquito control operation at Etang-Salé: the prefect launches general mobilization against chikungunya

This mobilization concerns state services. Thus, a prefectural decree was issued to once again reassess the State’s coverage rate for PEC contracts concerned with vector control to 65%. Service providers will be called upon by ARS Réunion to carry out this fight.

Health professionals must also be mobilized to report cases and thus enable residential areas to be treated.

The activation of epidemic phase 3 allows mayors to speed up formal notice procedures for the removal of waste from individuals, such as end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). From two months, the duration of the formal notice now increases to one month so that the occupants of the premises do what is necessary to eliminate the larval breeding sites, and so that the vector control teams can intervene in private homes.

The prevention messages remain the same. Larval breeding sites must be eliminated. In the garden, exploring all small containers such as cups is important. These receptacles can house up to twenty mosquito larvae. It is everyone’s responsibility to clean up their garden.

You must also protect yourself by wearing clothing that covers most of the body, particularly the arms and legs, especially in the morning and at the end of the day. Mosquito nets over the bed are not a luxury.

As soon as a person has symptoms of the disease, it must be reported to doctors. Thus, the agents can intervene with the anti-vector teams in the sick person and around their environment.