“Once it’s installed, it can’t leave,” explains one expert

The Normandy regional health agency said on Wednesday that the virus was first detected in the region in 2023.

The tiger mosquito is present in Normandy, the only region left so far, the regional health agency confirmed on Wednesday. “Once it’s installed, it can’t leave.”, Thursday March 21, Anna-Bella Felloux, entomologist and professor of medical entomology at the Pasteur Institute, explains to franceinfo. No French metropolitan area is now spared from the tiger mosquito.

The increasingly significant presence of this mosquito in the region is explained by our own movement, “Mosquitoes travel with us, because the eggs are carried by people or their vehicles”. Eggs that come from elsewhere “Able to withstand low winter temperatures”, even in regions historically colder than its original settlement areas. So will eggs “be inactive” While waiting for the right temperature, the temperature is what it is “More and more convenient”, with global warming. The problem is, tigers are mosquitoes “Almost everywhere and, once it’s installed, it can’t be left”.

Reducing tiger mosquito breeding sites

The danger from this mosquito is that it can carry diseases such as dengue, chikungunya or Zika, potentially fatal viruses. The presence of this virus is already documented, as numerous indigenous cases are reported every year in France, “Peak is in 2022, with 66 cases”. An indigenous case means that a person contracts one of these infections, even if he has not lived in an area where the virus is endemic.

To reduce the presence of tiger mosquitoes, advises Professor Anna-Bella Felloux “Reduce the breeding sites of these mosquitoes” as “Small puddles of water, flat tires, clogged drains, etc.”. Because an effective method “When we reduce this type of breeding ground, we reduce the problems associated with these mosquitoes by at least 50%”. In fact, of the 67 mosquito species in France, it is one of the only species that can settle. “Small containers of water, there are almost no mosquitoes that can colonize this type of habitat”.