chikungunya fever

China has maintained communication with the WHO on Chikungunya infections. The Chinese government takes seriously the health of its own people and foreign nationals in China and will continue to make sure it is comfortable, safe and convenient for both Chinese and foreigners to travel in China, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Thursday. 

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun made the remarks at Thursday's regular press briefing in response to a question regarding a Bloomberg report which cited the US CDC that it's planning to issue a travel advisory for China because of the outbreak of Chikungunya infections in Guangdong.

Guo said that China's National Health Commission held a press conference and shared information on the imported Chikungunya fever in a handful of cities in Southern China and its spread there. The commission said the disease is treatable, preventable, and under control. Chikungunya fever is a mosquito-borne viral disease, and there were already reported cases overseas in the 1950s. The virus is found to spread in 119 countries and regions.

Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing a spokesperson, the US CDC is planning to issue a travel notice for China as Chikungunya infections rise in the country. 

"CDC is aware of the reported Chikungunya outbreak in Guangdong Province in China and is currently assessing the size and extent of the outbreak," the spokesperson said in a statement, according to Bloomberg.

Chinese experts said such a notice appears to be unnecessary, as travel to China is not becoming risky due to the disease and with effective prevention and control measures in the country, the infections are controllable.

If such a travel notice for China is issued based on current Chikungunya cases, the decision is unreasonable, Zhuang Shilihe, a Guangzhou-based medical expert, told the Global Times on Thursday. It is virtually unlikely that travelers will contract Chikungunya in China, the disease has not spread widely across the country, and the affected regions have already implemented measures to address it, Zhuang said.

Currently, local authorities in Foshan, South China's Guangdong Province, have implemented mosquito control measures and strengthened epidemic prevention efforts. The disease has not seen widespread transmission, Zhuang said.

Bloomberg, citing the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, reported that around 240,000 cases and 90 Chikungunya-related deaths have been recorded in at least 16 European countries since the start of the year. In China, Chikungunya cases are currently concentrated in Foshan, where about 6,000 cases had been reported as of Tuesday.

As of press time, the US CDC has not issued a travel notice for US travelers to Europe regarding Chikungunya.

Foshan city in South China's Guangdong Province began a one-week special campaign on Thursday to eradicate mosquitoes and strengthen the prevention and control of mosquito-borne diseases such as Chikungunya and dengue fever, the Foshan News Media Center reported. The campaign aims to effectively cut off transmission routes of the outbreak, according to the local command center for mosquito-borne disease prevention.

Although Chikungunya has an incubation period and infection numbers may not decrease immediately, current mosquito control efforts in Guangzhou, Foshan, and other areas are resolute and will help curb Chikungunya transmission, Zhuang said.

Currently, the CDC has issued a level 2 notice for US travelers to practice "enhanced precautions" for seven countries including Kenya and Madagascar, according to Bloomberg. 

With the global spread of Aedes mosquitoes, diseases they transmit, including Chikungunya, have reached more regions in recent years. Guangdong is actively implementing mosquito eradication measures to prevent further spread, Li Tongzeng, chief physician of the infectious diseases department at Beijing You'an Hospital, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Chikungunya is primarily transmitted through the bites of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes and is not contagious from person to person. The disease can be effectively prevented and controlled by taking measures to eliminate mosquitoes and protect against bites, the Fuzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday.

China reported its first imported case of Chikungunya in 2008, which led to localized outbreaks, but no stable source of infection has been established in the country, according to a press conference held by the National Health Commission (NHC) on July 23.

Speaking at the NHC conference, Duan Leilei, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that Chikungunya is preventable, controllable, and treatable, with no evidence of human-to-human transmission.