Chikungunya epidemic rises to more than 44,000 cases, IXCHIQ vaccination suspended in people over 65 years
The chikungunya epidemic remains active throughout La Réunion. Despite a slight downward trend in certain indicators, particularly emergency room visits, chikungunya activity remains at a very high level.
In a follow-up on the epidemic, since the beginning of 2025, more than 44,000 confirmed cases of indigenous chikungunya have been reported in Réunion.
The dynamics of the epidemic vary depending on the region, with a decrease in emergency room visits in the South (but still at a high level), in the West and East, and a stabilizing trend in the North. Since the beginning of 2025, the share of pediatric visits among all emergency room visits for chikungunya was 40%. However, the share of hospitalizations is 15% in week 17. For newborns, these are generally short stays for pain management and monitoring. For adults, 27% of emergency room visits were followed by hospitalization in week 17.
Since the beginning of the year, 2,139 visits to the emergency room, 302 hospitalizations and 9 deaths were recorded.
Among the hospitalizations, chikungunya was the reason for admission for 270 cases, or 89%. For the remaining cases, the diagnosis was confirmed incidentally during hospitalization.
A quarter of them were under 6 months old, and nearly half (42%) were over 65 years old. These two populations represent the majority of cases hospitalized for chikungunya.
Severe cases mainly occur in people over 65 and infants under 3 months of age.
To date, 57 severe cases (i.e., those with at least one organ failure) have been reported.
These included 33 adults over 65 with comorbidities, 3 people under 65 with comorbidities, and 21 infants under 3 months of age.
Nine deaths occurring between weeks 11 and 14 in people over 70 years of age with comorbidities were classified by an accountability committee as linked to chikungunya (7 directly and 2 indirectly linked).
Vaccinations
The Ministry of Health and Access to Healthcare was informed on April 23 by the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines (ANSM) of the occurrence of two serious adverse events following vaccination against chikungunya with the IXCHIQ vaccine in Réunion, including one death, and then a third on April 25.
The three confirmed serious adverse events occurred in Réunion following vaccination against chikungunya with VALNEVA's IXCHIQ vaccine in people over 80 years of age with comorbidities. Two people experienced symptoms similar to those of a severe form of chikungunya a few days after vaccination, one of whom died. The third was discharged from hospital.
The HAS considers it necessary to reassess the benefit/risk balance of the IXCHIQ vaccine in subjects aged 65 and over, given the current uncertainties about the safety of this vaccine in this population and despite the persistence of a serious epidemic in Réunion.
The HAS recommends suspending vaccination against chikungunya with the IXCHIQ vaccine in people aged 65 and over throughout France, pending further national or international pharmacovigilance data.
Thus, and in accordance with the HAS (French Health Authority), the health authorities are immediately removing people aged 65 and over, whether or not they have comorbidities, from the vaccination target. Vaccination remains open to people aged 18 to 64 with comorbidities. In this context, travelers aged 65 and over should also not be vaccinated with the IXCHIQ vaccine.