A new indigenous case of chikungunya, the second in mainland France since the beginning of the year, has been detected in Hérault, the Occitanie Regional Health Agency announced in a press release on Monday.
The first indigenous case of 2025 was reported last week in the Var.
Since May 1, 59 imported cases of chikungunya and 40 imported cases of dengue fever have been recorded in Occitanie, the ARS specifies.
"The health of the sick person does not give rise to concern," emphasizes the Health Agency, which specifies that "to prevent the virus from spreading locally, preventive measures are being implemented in busy places and suspected contamination sites in Prades-le-Lez."
People who have visited this town and who have shown signs suggestive of chikungunya since the beginning of May are invited by the ARS to consult their doctor.
Chikungunya, transmitted by the tiger mosquito, is most often characterized by a sudden onset of fever, often accompanied by severe joint pain, conjunctivitis and a rash.
We speak of an indigenous case when a person contracted the disease on national territory and did not travel to a contaminated area in the 15 days preceding the onset of symptoms.
Only one indigenous case of this virus transmitted by the tiger mosquito had been detected in 2024 in mainland France, in Ile-de-France, and none in 2023. Since 2010, mainland France had experienced around thirty indigenous cases of this virus.
This year, the chikungunya epidemic, a disease that causes fever and joint pain, has hit Reunion Island the hardest, with 23 deaths, although it is now continuing to decline. An estimated 200,000 people have been infected on the island since January.
While the epidemic is clearly declining in Réunion, it is still growing in Mayotte, also in the Indian Ocean, where it broke out later.
The warmer temperatures currently affecting France are increasing the activity of tiger mosquitoes, vectors of this virus as well as those of dengue and Zika.
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