Orange with 6Medias, published on Wednesday, September 28, 2022 at 10:50 a.m.
Now present in 70 departments, the tiger mosquito is gaining ground in France. The cases of dengue fever transmitted by the insect are more and more numerous, reports Midi Libre, Wednesday September 28.
Concern is mounting around dengue fever.
The health authorities have alerted to an explosion of cases of contamination in France, reports Midi Libre, Wednesday September 28. Nearly 40 people were infected in mid-September, which is more than the cumulative total for the past ten years. This infectious disease is caused by an arbovirus mainly transmitted by the tiger mosquito. The latter is now present in 70 departments of France.
Silent, the insect with a black body and striped legs stings at daybreak or dusk. Although dengue fever is often asymptomatic (in regarding 70% of cases), infected patients may suffer from headaches, high fever, nausea, or joint and muscle pain. In the event of dengue hemorrhagic fever, the most serious form of the disease which affects 1% of people infected worldwide, multiple bleeding (gastrointestinal, cutaneous and cerebral) can occur.
The south of France exposed to the disease
How to explain the increase in cases in France? “The summer we experienced, exceptional for its alternation of scorching heat and intense rainy episodes, particularly in the southern regions, led to a significant increase in the number of mosquitoes”indicates the virologist Yannick Simonin, with Ouest-France.
Of the five departments affected by the disease, three are located in Occitania and two in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (Paca). Four cases have been identified 20 kilometers from Toulouse, in Haute-Garonne, three have been listed in the Hautes-Pyrénées and another in Perpignan, in the Pyrénées-Orientales. In Paca, the two departments affected are the Alpes-Maritimes, with 31 cases identified, and the Var, where seven cases have been counted.