Key Highlights :
WHO rings alarm of chikungunya outbreak spike worldwide, as in 2004–2005 intensity.
Local transmissions in France and Italy; infection rates high in India and East Africa.
No definite treatment—prevention through mosquito control and education required.
Key Background :
Chikungunya is a viral infection spread by infected Aedes mosquitoes, most notably Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. Chikungunya presents with fever onset, muscle pain, rash, and most especially, agonizing joint pain for months. Initially discovered in Africa during the 1950s, chikungunya was relatively contained in regards to significance until the global dispersal of the illness commenced at the beginning of the 2000s.
The epidemic of 2004-2005 in the Indian Ocean islands was a turning point as it infected hundreds of thousands and presented evidence of the virus's capability to spread at high rates. The same is happening in 2025. The same locations—La Réunion, Mayotte, and Mauritius—are caught up in another epidemic. In La Réunion, roughly one-third of the population has been infected, similar in size to previous epidemics.
Particularly of concern in this regard is virus transmission across continents. The epidemic is arriving in through East African countries such as Madagascar, Kenya, and Somalia. South and South-East Asia is not so great either, with India still having community-level transmission. Underlying factors are warmer temperatures, more travel, and dense populations.
Europe is also starting to feel the pressure. There was a sudden increase in cases imported from overseas in France, most of them by individuals who had traveled back from disease-endemic areas. Much more disturbing yet, local transmission—where people with no previous history of travel acquire the infection—is now reported from southern France and Italy as well. That indicates local mosquitoes transmit the disease, increasing the risk of European outbreaks on a larger scale.
There is no cure that exists for chikungunya directly. It is managed with supportive measures such as hydration, pain relief, and rest. Vaccines are manufactured and newly licensed in some countries but not yet on the market. There are some with side effect issues particularly in the elderly and thus they are restricted in their administration.
WHO suggests that priority should be accorded to controlling mosquitoes, public health publicity, and early detection by enhancing disease surveillance. Prevention procedures like draining water from a stationary position, use of insect repellents, dressing in long sleeves, and screening windows can cut down transmission considerably. Active and cooperative public health efforts must be initiated in an attempt to avert a wholesale world crisis in view of the fact that billions of people reside in open spaces.