2023-09-10 04:43:00
the essentials The flying insect has colonized Haute-Garonne. It transmits dengue fever and related diseases This little creature might become a major public health problem. The fight is organized between insecticide “bombardment” and genetic control.
This week, two new cases of arboviruses (dengue, chikungunya or zika) were detected in Haute-Garonne. This makes 29 since the start of the year, only “imported” from warm countries. These diseases most of the time lead to a serious flu but they can be lethal when they take a hemorrhagic form.
They are transmitted by the tiger mosquito aedes aegypti, a small flying creature barely a cm long, incapable of withstanding winters in our latitudes… The problem is that this dipteran insect has a local cousin, the tiger mosquito aedes albopictus , equally competent in carrying these viruses. Coming from Southeast Asia, it completely colonized the region. For health authorities, it is at the top of the list of pests to kill.
Salvation will undoubtedly come from the genetic arsenal
Jean-Sébastien Dehecq, sanitary engineer at the ARS, explains why: “The plan is known and will expand in the coming years. A person infected with aegypti returns from a trip abroad. She gets bitten by our local tiger mosquito. This can then contaminate other people and form local epidemic outbreaks. If from February, with global warming, it starts to reach 20 degrees, we will already have mosquitoes in action, this will increase the probability of having indigenous cases. »
This year, there have not yet been any proven cases of “local” contamination. On the other hand, for the first time, in 2022, the ARS recorded contaminations due to aedes albopictus. “In all, there were six. In reality, they are two family units. One living in La Salvetat-Saint-Gilles, the other in Toulouse, undoubtedly bitten by the same mosquito,” indicates Jean-Sébastien Dehecq.
“It is harmful for ten days until its death”
With each confirmed case of arbovirus, there is a real race once morest time for the ARS engineer and his teams.
“You have to act very quickly during the incubation time. The contaminated local mosquito will take a short week before becoming contaminating. It is harmful for ten days until death. By conducting a survey of infected individuals, we identify the sites to be treated in order to minimize the spread of the disease. Since the start of the year, around sixty places have been treated, ranging from a garden to a supermarket entrance,” he explains.
It remains an emergency treatment. In the future, to avoid epidemics like in the Overseas Territories, it will be necessary to spray Deltamethrin (see interview) on the identified outbreaks. Since there is no single predator of the tiger mosquito, the solution will be genetic. “In Montpellier, we are working on the production of sterile male mosquitoes. When they release them, they fly with the wild females, the only ones who sting. This will result in empty eggs. Gradually, the population of tiger mosquitoes should fall,” predicts Jean-Sébastien Dehecq.
1694326239
#HauteGaronne #tiger #mosquito #carrying #tropical #diseases #future #target #killed
