French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin visits Reunion in the Indian Ocean on Sunday, an island in the grip of a crippling epidemic.
Some 157,000 people - a fifth of the population - have caught chikungunya, a mosquito-borne illness.
The disease has now been brought into France by people who visited Reunion.
Mr de Villepin's trip comes amid claims his government's response to the disease has been inadequate as it has focused on the bird flu crisis at home.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4751890.stm
February 26th, 2006
