2023-07-31 05:16:02
Par Julie Bossart
Published on 31 Jul 23 at 7:16 See my news Follow News Hauts-de-Seine The tiger mosquito. Pretty, elegant, but fearsome. (©Illustration / Adobe Stock)
The torrential rains that fell on Paris and the inner suburbsFriday July 28, 2023, revived ambivalent memories for Christian: “These large drops associated with the heat always remind me austral summer. Boulonnais by adoption, the fifties lived thirteen years in Reunion, in the Indian Ocean. And does not look forward to “finding, here, in Île-de-France, such a tropical climate« .
Slow and quiet, no less harmless
Worried about global warming, Christian is also concerned about its consequences, including the appearance, not so recent now, of the tiger mosquito sous nos latitudes. L’Aedes albopictus is “present and active in all the departments of the region”, insists the ARS, which has established, and updates, the map of the colonized municipalities in the name by the mosquito recognizable by its white spots. The Hauts-de-Seine prefecture regularly relays messages on how to protect yourself from bites and the importance of reporting your presence.
Because, with its cushy and silent flight, attacking even by day, but especially at dawn and dusk, the tiger mosquito seems harmless. However, it is a vector of dangerous tropical diseases, such as zika, dengue or even chikungunya. Christian may have been infected with this latest arbovirus many years ago, but he warns a “very bad memory”.
” At first [en 2005]we did not take it particularly seriously, recalls withnews Hauts-de-Seine ex-journalist. The name chikungunya was almost laughable. But the figures for new infected people announced each evening in the RFO radio newspaper quickly became maddening. It was when he became aware of the “danger of the epidemic”, and that he began to protect himself, effectively, he thought, with skin and clothing insecticides, that Christian was bitten:
When I woke up, I felt pain in my ankles, high fever and burning sensations in my hands. The only possible treatment at the time was painkillers, like Doliprane. But the worst is the relapses. I had memory loss. My body was just pain, I was rusty, stuck. I couldn’t even get up on my own. In fact, chikungunya was called the “bent man’s disease”. Even breathing was painful.
Christian, atteint du chikungunya
Serious neurological forms
The Pasteur Institute confirms: “The infection leads, after an incubation period of two to ten days, to joint damage, often very disabling, mainly concerning the small articular belts (wrists, fingers, ankles, feet), but also the knees, more rarely, the hips or the shoulders. This joint damage is frequently associated with headaches, significant muscle pain, a skin rash on the trunk and limbs, inflammation of one or more cervical lymph node(s) or even conjunctivitis.
Worse, serious neurological forms, in particular meningoencephalitis and peripheral nerve damagehave been observed, mainly in the elderly, or with a weakened immune system, and in newborns, infected in utero during the infection of the mother.
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“I came to drink my urine”
“I failed.” a month of anti-inflammatories to recover, continues Christian. To tell you the truth, I tried grandmother’s remedies from Reunion, like zamal herbal teas [cannabis local]. And I even came to drink my urine, twice. Coming to such extremities…” Whether by chance or real effectiveness, it was after taking this homemade beverage that Christian says he saw his pain disappear.
The ARS has drawn up a map allowing you to know if your municipality of residence is colonized by the tiger mosquito. (©ARS)
« Joint damage can last in a subacute or chronic mode for several months, even several years, and this all the more frequently as the age of the patient is advanced”, underlines the Pasteur Institute. Christian concedes with a laugh that his current pain in the joints is certainly due to age.
As of July 5, 2023, according to the ARS, “Boulogne-Billancourt was not known to be colonized by the tiger mosquito”. Our witness remains vigilant: “It’s been three weeks that I put every night, in the living room and the bedroom, sockets to repel the mosquito. They say that once infected, you are immune for life… But I don’t prefer to tempt fate. Today, what scares me is getting dengue fever or zika. »
The only effective treatment, prevention
In metropolitan France, in 2023, “the tiger mosquito is implanted in 71 departments”, says ANSES. It is subject to “increased surveillance, in particular through the Signalement-mosquito site”, because, at present, the only effective treatment against the diseases it carries is the destruction of breeding sites.
“Resistant and adapted to the human environment, the tiger mosquito thrives in peri-urban environments, as well as in very dense urban areas.
The female lays eggs in all sorts of containers and artificial water reservoirs: vases, pots, barrels, gutters, rain drains, gutters, terraces on studs, old tires…”
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