5,000 Larva-Eating Fish Released to Curtail China's Chikungunya Outbreak

The People's Republic of China recently launched targeted measures in Guangdong Province, including citywide cleanup efforts, to effectively curb the spread of Chikungunya fever, a mosquito-borne viral disease.

Local health authorities had reported a total of 5,155 confirmed cases of Chikungunya fever in 2025.

Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, with about 9 million residents, reported 2,940 new local cases of Chikungunya, with 2,882 cases occurring in Foshan.

Data released on July 28, 2025, by the local health bureau of the city of Foshan, in Guangdong, shows that 78% of affected villages and communities have seen their mosquito density indexes drop to safe levels through water cleanup and mosquito eradication efforts.

To eliminate virus-carrying mosquitoes at their source, Foshan's Chancheng District has released over 5,000 larva-eating fish into the city's lakes.

In Chancheng's Longcun Village, drones have been used to detect accumulated water on rooftops, storage sheds, and other hard-to-reach areas where mosquito larvae are likely to breed. 

"There is no evidence of the human-to-human transmission of Chikungunya," Duan Leilei, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a news conference. The virus is transmitted to humans through bites from infected mosquitoes.

So far this year, the reported cases have been mild, with no severe or fatal cases seen to date, according to the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

First identified in 1824, Chikungunya outbreaks have since been reported in over 110 countries across Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Europe, placing billions of people at risk for this serious disease.

In the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization reported over 206,000 Chikungunya cases and three related fatalities as of July 30, 2025, with the highest numbers in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil (198,510), Paraguay, and Peru.

Various countries, including the United States, have authorized innovative Chikungunya vaccines for use in 2025. These travel vaccines are commercailly offered at multiple retailers.