Emergence of chikungunya fever on the French side of Saint Martin island, October to December 2013

S Cassadou; S Boucau; M Petit-Sinturel; P Huc; I Leparc-Goffart; M Ledrans

doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES2014.19.13.20752

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Emergence of chikungunya fever on the French side of Saint Martin island, October to December 2013
S Cassadou¹ , S Boucau² , M Petit-Sinturel¹ , P Huc³ , I Leparc-Goffart⁴ , M Ledrans¹
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Affiliations: ¹ French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS), Paris, France ² Regional Health Agency of Guadeloupe, Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy, France ³ Laboratory 'Biocaraïbes' – Saint Martin, France ⁴ French National Reference Centre for Arboviruses, Armed Forces Biomedical Research Institute (IRBA), Marseille, France

Correspondence:
S Cassadou
sylvie.cassadou ars.sante.fr
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Citation style for this article: Cassadou S, Boucau S, Petit-Sinturel M, Huc P, Leparc-Goffart I, Ledrans M. Emergence of chikungunya fever on the French side of Saint Martin island, October to December 2013. Euro Surveill. 2014;19(13):pii=20752. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES2014.19.13.20752 Received: 20 Feb 2014

Abstract

On 18 November 2013, five residents of Saint Martin presented with severe joint pain after an acute episode of dengue-like fever. Epidemiological, laboratory and entomological investigations provided evidence of the first autochthonous transmission of chikungunya virus in the Americas. The event indicates a risk of epidemics in America and Europe through substantial passenger traffic to and from continental France. We describe detection and confirmation of the first six cases and results of the first weeks of surveillance.