The regional health agency has confirmed a case of dengue fever concerning a resident of La Salvetat-Saint-Gilles. The town hall indicates that her husband was also infected. As this couple did not travel abroad this summer, they were bitten by a tiger mosquito which had previously bitten a person who had brought the virus from a tropical country. A second mosquito control operation will be carried out on Sunday evening, in an area of 300 meters where the couple moved, following a first phase carried out Thursday evening near their home.
The ARS (Regional Health Agency) confirmed this Friday an indigenous case of dengue fever in La Salvetat-Saint-Gilles, the first of the year in Haute-Garonne. A lady, whose state of health does not cause any concern (1), was contaminated in August. The results were known earlier this week.
This infectious disease is transmitted by the tiger mosquito. During the night of Thursday to Friday, a mosquito control operation was carried out near his home, avenue de Gascogne, between the impasses of Genêts and Platanes. But this woman and her husband, also recently infected, continued to live before the diagnosis was confirmed. “The couple went to the medical analysis laboratory and did some shopping at the Hospitaliers shopping center,” said the mayor of La Salvetat, François Arderiu.
The ARS therefore decided on a second mosquito control operation. It will take place, in a wider area in downtown La Salvetat, around the town hall, from 11 p.m. Sunday evening to 6 a.m. Monday morning. This couple did not travel for the holidays. It is therefore an indigenous case. “This lady was probably bitten by a mosquito which had already bitten a person who brought the virus from abroad. This is called an index case, ”comments Jérôme Falerne, deputy departmental director of the ARS.
In principle, a mosquito rages in an area of 300 meters and has a lifespan of one month. The ARS investigates door to door in the center of La Salvetat-Saint-Gilles to “find the index case, the trace of virus importation and cut the chain of transmission” and possibly decide on other phases of mosquito control. The investigators take the opportunity to recall the prevention instructions, in particular the limitation of stagnant water.
On average, there are 15 to 20 cases of contamination per year in Haute-Garonne, often in August and September, following returning from vacation in a tropical country. Indigenous cases are much rarer. There were six cases this summer in Occitania, in three homes: one in the Pyrénées-Orientales, one in the Hautes-Pyrénées, in Andrest, still active, and therefore that of La Salvetat.