Actress Lindsey Lohan says she contracted the mosquito borne virus, chikungunya, while vacationing on the Pacific island of French Polynesia.

Image/CDC
Image/CDC

The 28-year-old Lohan posted a number of Instagram and Twitter messages talking about her Christmas vacation-acquired infection.

In a photo of herself on a jet ski posted on Instagram, and on Twitter she notes, “Before I got chikungunya,” telling her fans to wear bug spray.

She captioned the next photo, “In good faith with good people. I refuse to let a virus effect my peaceful vacation.”

French Polynesia has been experiencing an outbreak of chikungunya this year reporting in excess of 40,000 cases and 9 fatalities.

Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus.

It can cause high fever, join and muscle pain, and headache. Chikungunya does not often result in death, but the joint pain may last for months or years and may become a cause of chronic pain and disability.

There is no specific treatment for chikungunya infection, nor any vaccine to prevent it. Pending the development of a new vaccine, the only effective means of prevention is to protect individuals against mosquito bites.