7 Nov 2014

Tahiti deals with chikungunya outbreak

3:55 pm on 7 November 2014

French Polynesia has confirmed 541 cases of the mosquito borne illness chikungunya in the last three weeks of October.

The most recent surveillance report by health authorities says 509 of those cases were from Tahiti.

Chikungunya outbreaks are also on going in American Samoa, Samoa and Tokelau.

More than 3,000 people in the region have been affected by the current epidemic, mostly in French Polynesia.

The French territory is also experiencing an outbreak of dengue fever - serotype 1, with 81 cases in the last week of October signalling an increase from the previous number.