After reporting some 70,000 cases of the mosquito borne viral disease, chikungunya, since October 2014, health officials in French Polynesia have declared the outbreak over.
The outbreak claimed the live of at least 16 people, according to a Radio New Zealand report.
Other areas of the South Pacific have also been hit by chikungunya in recent months to include: Samoa (4431), New Caledonia (50) and the Cook Islands (83).
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.
