A mosquito-borne disease which has hit over 100,000 people on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, has been linked to the death of a 10-year-old girl, health authorities said. The child's death was "very probably" connected to the chikungunya disease, according to Antoine Perrin, head of the regional hospitals department, who said further tests were being carried out for confirmation.
According to Jean-Luc Alessandri, chief paediatrician at Saint Denis hospital, the girl suffered from no prior illness. She was the second child whose death has been linked to the disease.
Neither diagnosis could be definitively confirmed, since in both cases the parents refused an autopsy.
Although not known to be fatal, chikungunya has been directly connected to the deaths of four people -- including the two children -- and indirectly to the deaths of 48 others on the French island.
The painful disease has spread to 110,000 people, or more than one in eight of the island's population, and authorities there are battling to eradicate the mosquitos that transmit the virus.
More than a thousand people have also been affected in the Seychelles and several hundred in Mauritius.
Chikungunya -- a Swahili word meaning "that which bends up" -- can cause painful swelling of body joints, leaving victims stooped and limiting their movements. Symptoms eventually disappear over time. There is no vaccine.
The World Health Organisation said Tuesday that it was sending experts to the Indian Ocean island of Reunion and neighbouring countries to help tackle the raging disease.
