2023-04-20 17:34:11
Par Laurent REBOURS
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After a pivotal year in 2022, and a few days from the launch of the official plan to fight once morest the tiger mosquito, the May 1, 2023, vigilance-mosquitoes publishes the 2023 tiger mosquito map which once once more confirms the progression of the tiger mosquito in mainland France.
This year, four new departments have gone into red vigilance and three into orange vigilance. The Loiret now appears in the departments in the red zone.
Two departments of Centre-Val de Loire affected by the tiger mosquito
Overall, 71% of the territory is now impacted by the official and active presence of the tiger mosquito.
Go into red alert The Meurthe-et-Mosellethe Loir et Cherthe Loiret and the Val d’Oise. Added to this list are three new departments on orange alert, all located in Brittany which was hitherto spared: The Island and Vilainethe Morbihan and the Finistere.
In 2022, France experienced nine epidemic foci and 65 autochthonous casesdespite the implementation of the anti-spread plan once morest dengue, chikungunya and zika.
In February 2023, several specialists expressed their concern regarding this development and the fact that the populations of mainland France are not aware.
The name of autochtones houses in constant progression
Year following year, epidemics [un foyer est dit épidémique à partir du moment où l’on constate deux cas autochtones déclarés, groupés dans le temps et l’espace.] are triggered regularly in mainland France and are stopped more or less quickly thanks to the mechanism for combating dissemination of arboviruses implemented by the State from May 1 to November 30.
“For ten years, the number of “indigenous cases” recorded during these epidemics has increased significantly before it is possible to curb them” notes vigilance-mosquitoes which lists the last few years:
In 2011, the first epidemic foci of dengue were identified in the departments of Was and Alpes maritimes and involved only two to four individuals.
In 2014, an outbreak of 12 autochthonous cases was recorded near Montpellier.
In 2015, seven indigenous cases were recorded in Nîmes.
In 2022, nine epidemic foci totaling 65 autochthonous cases of dengue fever were identified in the southern part of France
TIGER MOSQUITO: HOW TO RECOGNIZE IT?
Tiger mosquito, how to recognize it?
The Aedes Albopictus is smaller than a penny (a few millimeters), it has a fairly slow flight and it is easy to crush in flight.
Seen closer, we distinguish that it is black with white stripes on the legs and on the abdomen, which earned it its nickname of tiger mosquito (we should have called it zebra mosquito, but it lost its dangerous connotation ).
Accustomed from its Asian origin to being born in small lodgings (plants retaining water), it was able to easily colonize all kinds of accidental larval lodgings offered to it by the urban and peri-urban environment (cups under flower pots, watering cans , old tires, clogged gutters, etc.)
Coming from Asia, the tiger mosquito is exceptionally adaptable, which has allowed it to colonize 60 countries in the world, and to be one of the six most invasive species in the world.
(source : signalement-moustique.fr).
The urgency of citizen vigilance
Faced with the increase in the number of French departments concerned by the tiger mosquito and the lack of knowledge of the inhabitants on the health risks, it is necessary to recall the need to inform the population and to encourage it to participate in citizen vigilance by reporting any presence of tiger mosquitoes but also any unusual proliferation of mosquitoes on the vigilances-moustiques.com website.
■ Do not leave stagnant water in its immediate environment:
Empty flower pot saucers (or put sand in them), empty and turn over tires, buckets or watering cans as well as all small objects (children’s toys, etc.) left outside, clean blocked gutters or pipes, treat ponds with larvicides, cover rainwater collection tanks, clean the folds of tarpaulins left outside, swimming pool tarpaulins, renew the water in vases, the dog’s bowl…
In general, monitor the smallest cavity that can fill with a little water without being able to empty naturally. It only takes a few milliliters of stagnant water for the female tiger mosquito to lay hundreds of eggs.
■ Know how to identify a tiger mosquito and report suspected cases:
In order to guide the action of the organizations in charge of “vector control”, it is essential to signal the presence of the tiger mosquito wherever it is found.
For that it is necessary :
- Know what a tiger mosquito looks like: it measures a few millimeters in length, it is black with white stripes.
- In case of observation of a suspect specimen, take a picture of it, if possible before having crushed it, or following having neutralized it without damaging it, then send the picture to Vigilance-mosquitoes who will send it to the competent bodies for authentication.
■ Check if there are other specimens in the same area:
The tiger mosquito does not fly very far on its own (100 to 200 meters). It is therefore possible to check in the immediate perimeter around the discovery if others are present, which must be reported in the same way.
Mandatory specific monitoring
Vigilance-moustiques believes that specific monitoring is becoming as urgent as necessary and details the reasons:
- This species of mosquito is new in temperate zones, and causes new health alert situations.
- The tiger mosquito is a potential vector of serious diseases (dengue fever, chikungunya and to a lesser extent the Zika virus), which experience regular epidemic episodes in tourist areas (and in particular in our Overseas departments) highly appreciated by French and European travellers, who therefore represent as many risk factors once they return to France.
- The colonization of French territory by the tiger mosquito is increasingly rapid and now concerns 75 departments (68 in red vigilance, 7 in orange vigilance).
- Epidemic phenomena spread very quickly. We remember theItaly in 2007, a period when Chikungunya and dengue fever were not specially monitored. End of June: a person carrying the disease arrived in the country. At the beginning of July, the first autochthonous case was declared and following a month and a half there were 300 cas…
In orange vigilance the alert is just as strong
Each year, the General Directorate of Health launches on May 1 the national anti-spread plan once morest Dengue and Chikungunya renamed (since the identification of the Zika risk) “anti-spread plan ofarboviruses “, and focuses its communication on the departments where the tiger mosquito is declared “established and active” (marked in red on the updated mosquito vigilance map 2023).
But experience shows that the departments in orange vigilance turn red most of the time in the years that follow and therefore deserve special attention. Vigilance-moustiques considers even more necessary a citizen watch in these departments in “orange vigilance”.
These departments are not yet registered in the list of departments in red vigilance and therefore do not benefit from the epidemiological monitoring systems provided for in the framework of the anti-dissemination plan once morest arboviruses.
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