Historical data on local transmission in the EU/EEA of chikungunya virus disease

Chikungunya virus disease is an Aedes-borne disease widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. Globally, the virus is predominantly transmitted by Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus mosquitoes. Aedes albopictus is established in a large part of Europe. Aedes aegypti is established notably in Cyprus, around the Black Sea and in the outermost region (OR) of Madeira. 

Chikungunya is not endemic in mainland EU/EEA and the majority of the cases are travellers infected outside of mainland EU/EEA.  

The table below illustrate the chikungunya situation in mainland EU/EEA, excluding the EU ORs. Historically, chikungunya outbreaks have occurred in the French ORs (i.e. French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Réunion, Martinique, Mayotte and Saint-Martin). For the other ORs (Madeira, the Azores, the Canary Islands), no chikungunya virus disease cases were reported. 

Year                Country, region, municipalities Number of autochthonous cases Period of circulation (probable) Origin of the primary travel- related case (probable) References
2007 Italy, region of Emilia Romagna, (main transmission areas In Castiglione di Cervia and Castiglione di Ravenna) 330 suspected, probable and confirmed July-September India [1,2]
2010 France, Var department, Fréjus 2 September India [3,4]
2014 France, Hérault department, Montpellier 12 September- October Cameroon [5,6]
2017 France, Var department, Le Cannet-des- Maures and Taradeau 17 (1 1 in Cannet des-Maures and 6 in Taradeau) July- September Central Africa [5,7,8]
2017 Italy, Lazio region (Anzio, Latina and Roma) and Calabria region (Guardavalle marina) 270 confirmed and 229 probable August— November Asia (India/Pakistan) [9-12]
2024 France, Ile-de-France, Paris / Hauts-de-Seine, Paris or Gennevilliers 1 July Unknown/Not available [13]
2025 France, 8 regions, 44 municipalities 809 May-November Réunion, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Guinea-Bissau [14, 15]
2025 Italy, 8 regions, 27 municipalities 384 July-November Unknown/Not available [15]

The table combines information published in official reports and in the scientific literature plus information that was provided by the public health institutes and/or the ministries of health in the affected Member States.

References

  1. Angelini R, Finarelli AC, Angelini P, Po C, Petropulacos K, Silvi G, et al. Chikungunya in north-eastern Italy: a summing up of the outbreak. Euro Surveill. 2007 Nov 22;12(47):E071122.2. doi: 10.2807/esw.12.47.03313-en. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18053561
  2. Rezza G, Nicoletti L, Angelini R, Romi R, Finarelli AC, Panning M, et al. Infection with chikungunya virus in Italy: an outbreak in a temperate region. Lancet. 2007 Dec 1;370(9602):1840–1846. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61779-6. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18061059 
  3. Grandadam M, Caro V, Plumet S, Thiberge JM, Souarès Y, Failloux AB, et al. Chikungunya virus, southeastern France. Emerg Infect Dis. 2011 May;17(5):910–913. doi: 10.3201/eid1705.101873. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21529410 
  4. Vega-Rua A, Zouache K, Caro V, Diancourt L, Delaunay P, Grandadam M, et al. High efficiency of temperate Aedes albopictus to transmit chikungunya and dengue viruses in the southeast of France. PLoS One. 2013 Mar 18;8(3):e59716. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059716. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23527259 
  5. Franke F, Guerbois-Galla M, Cochet A, Jeannin C, Leparc-Goffart I, de Valk H, et al. Émergences de dengue et de chikungunya en France métropolitaine, 2010–2018 [In English: Dengue and chikungunya emergences in mainland France, 2010–2018]. Bulletin Épidémiologique Hebdomadaire. 2019;(19–20):374–382. Available at: https://www.santepubliquefrance.fr/maladies-et-traumatismes/maladies-a-transmission-vectorielle/chikungunya/documents/article/emergences-de-dengue-et-de-chikungunya-en-france-metropolitaine-2010-2018
  6. Delisle E, Rousseau C, Broche B, Leparc-Goffart I, L'Ambert G, Cochet A, et al. Chikungunya outbreak in Montpellier, France, September to October 2014. Euro Surveill. 2015 Apr 30;20(17):21108. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES2015.20.17.21108. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25955774 
  7. Calba C, Guerbois-Galla M, Franke F, Jeannin C, Auzet-Caillaud M, Grard G, et al. Preliminary report of an autochthonous chikungunya outbreak in France, July to September 2017. Euro Surveill. 2017 Sep 28;22(39):17-00647. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2017.22.39.17-00647. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5709952/ 
  8. Calba C, Guerbois-Galla M, Franke F, Jeannin C, Auzet-Caillaud M, Grard G, et al. Investigation of an autochthonous chikungunya outbreak, July–September 2017, France. Revue d'Épidémiologie et de Santé Publique. 2018;66:S387–S388. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0398762018311106
  9. Venturi G, Di Luca M, Fortuna C, Remoli ME, Riccardo F, Severini F, et al. Detection of a chikungunya outbreak in Central Italy, August to September 2017. Euro Surveill. 2017 Sep 28;22(39):17-00646. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2017.22.39.17-00646. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5709953/ 
  10. Lindh E, Argentini C, Remoli ME, Fortuna C, Faggioni G, Benedetti E, et al. The Italian 2017 outbreak chikungunya virus belongs to an emerging Aedes albopictus-adapted virus cluster introduced from the Indian subcontinent. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2019 Jan;6(1):ofy321. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofy321. Available at: https://academic.oup.com/ofid/article/6/1/ofy321/5239584 
  11. Riccardo F, Venturi G, Di Luca M, Del Manso M, Severini F, Andrianou X, et al. Secondary autochthonous outbreak of chikungunya, southern Italy, 2017. Emerg Infect Dis. 2019 Nov;25(11):2093–2095. doi: 10.3201/eid2511.180949. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6810187/ 
  12. Istituto Superiore di Sanità. Italy: autochthonous cases of chikungunya virus disease (updated 21 December 2017). 2017. Available at: https://www.salute.gov.it/portale/temi/documenti/chikungunya/bollettino_chikungunya_20171221.pdf 
  13. Santé publique France. Chikungunya, dengue et zika – Données de la surveillance renforcée en France hexagonale 2024 [In English: Chikungunya, dengue and Zika – enhanced surveillance data in mainland France, 2024]. 2024. Available at: https://www.santepubliquefrance.fr/maladies-et-traumatismes/maladies-a-transmission-vectorielle/chikungunya/articles/donnees-en-france-metropolitaine/chikungunya-dengue-et-zika-donnees-de-la-surveillance-renforcee-en-france-hexagonale-2024 
  14. Santé publique France. Chikungunya, dengue et Zika – France hexagonale (Corse comprise) en 2025 [In English: Chikungunya, dengue and Zika in mainland France, including Corsica – 2025 report]. 2025. Available at: https://www.santepubliquefrance.fr/en/vector-borne-diseases/chikungunya/national-bulletin/chikungunya-dengue-and-zika-metropolitan-france-2025-report 
  15. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Seasonal surveillance of chikungunya virus disease in the EU/EEA, weekly report. January 2026. Available at: https://chik-weekly.ecdc.europa.eu/archive/chik-2025.html 
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