15 Dec 2014

Chikungunya affects more than 3,000 in Samoa

7:27 am on 15 December 2014

The number of people infected with Chikungunya in Samoa has reached more than 3,000.

Ministry of Health figures up until the last week of November show 3,l35 cases of the mosquito-borne virus.

The Ministry says 333 people reported to hospitals that week, the most number of people showing symptoms of the disease in one week since the initial outbreak in July.

The latest numbers mean that l.7 percent of Samoa's population has contracted "Chik" whose symptoms include fever, sore joints and a rash.

The Ministry says the largest clusters of Chikungunya are within the Faleata and Vaimauga districts and more women than men have been affected.

There have been no deaths from Chikungunya in Samoa.

Five people have died and more than 35,000 people have been affected by the disease in French Polynesia.