borne virus Geneva, Feb 21, SPA -- The World Health Organization will send a team to several Indian Ocean islands to monitor an outbreak of a viral disease that is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes, AP quoted a spokeswoman as saying Tuesday. So far this year, four people have died of the Chikungunya virus and 48 others have died of causes linked to the virus in the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, according to the French Health Ministry. The WHO team, which will leave Geneva on Wednesday, will visit Reunion, as well as Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles to check control measures in place against the Chikungunya virus, said Fadela Chaib, spokeswoman for the health agency. It was the first time officials have confirmed deaths related to this outbreak of the virus, which is usually not life-threatening but can cause muscle and joint pain, rash and fever. No vaccine has been identified. There have been an estimated 110,000 cases of Chikungunya in Reunion since monitoring began after an outbreak last March. During the first week of February, nearby island countries started to report cases, including 1,255 in the Seychelles and 206 in Mauritius, WHO said. Reunion, a popular resort destination for tourists from the French mainland, has a population of 700,000
