2023-05-02 20:35:37
France has sounded the alarm about the Asian tiger species. With global warming, mosquitoes are migrating north.
Scientists are studying the mosquito threat in Scotland after France sounded the alarm over the Asian tiger species. With global warming, mosquitoes are migrating north.
Scientists have been monitoring the spread of these troublesome, disease-carrying insects in Europe for years, but the health implications for humans are still unclear.
Now researchers in the UK have launched a major project to assess the risk of mosquito-borne diseases in Scotland under current and future climate change scenarios.
“The importance of studying mosquito vectors and their pathogens in a climate-changing world cannot be overstated,” said Heather Ferguson, Professor of Infection Ecology at the University of Glasgow.
The University of Glasgow, along with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the UK Center for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), has received a £1.25million (€1.41million) grant to continue its research across three years to perform.
The project is also studying migratory birds to detect emerging zoonotic pathogens – diseases that spread from animals to humans – such as West Nile virus.
Asian tiger mosquitoes spread with warmer temperatures
Asian tiger mosquitoes are notorious vectors of serious diseases such as Dengue, Chikungunya, West Nile, and Zika. Climate change is causing this highly invasive species to thrive in Mediterranean countries. It is expected to become established in England and Wales in the coming decades.
Let’s not forget that mosquitoes are the deadliest creatures on earth, killing one million people every year through the diseases they carry. In the last 50 years, the number of dengue cases worldwide has increased 30-fold. Forty percent of the world’s population, approximately 3 billion people, live in dengue-risk areas.
How to recognize a tiger mosquito
The Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), originally from Southeast Asia, is black with silvery-white spots and smaller than the common house mosquito – between two and ten millimeters long.
This makes them quieter – and more insidious. Unlike many other mosquito species, the Asian tiger mosquito usually bites during the day.
If you’re not sure if the mosquito you just bit is an Asian tiger, you can take a picture of it and upload it to Mosquito Alert, a tracking app now available in most European countries. In this way, citizens help map the global spread of mosquitoes and fight them.
This updated map from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) shows how widespread the tiger mosquito has been in Mediterranean countries:
France sounds the alarm
Tiger mosquitoes can now be found in more than half of France. A 2020 report by the French parliament warned that its spread poses a “major health risk” in the coming decades.
Asian tiger mosquitoes are already such an acute problem in the south of the country that local authorities have launched a three-year experiment to trap them.
And that is how it works. The females are lured into a water-filled container called a vectrap, where a screen prevents them from laying their eggs and sticky walls prevent them from escaping. This allows scientists to capture them before they can reproduce.
Initiatives like this usually rely on local people to set traps and report sightings.
The fight against tiger mosquitoes has taken a more serious turn in Asian regions where they are endemic. Experiments aimed at infecting them with a specific type of bacteria and sterilizing the females have yielded encouraging results in China.
Simple ways to protect yourself
The most effective way to prevent Asian tiger mosquitoes from establishing themselves in your yard is to prevent them from reproducing by eliminating standing water.
Gnat eggs need water to hatch, and females love flower pots, bird baths, and clogged gutters, but even something as small as a bottle cap can hold enough water for the larvae to develop. So make sure your exterior is spotlessly clean, clean gutters, drains and watering cans, and why not your windows and doors too.
If you’re outdoors in an infested area, try to wear long pants and long sleeves – if you can handle the layers during a heat wave – and avoid dark clothing, which attracts the mosquitoes.
Apply repellents containing DEET, IR3535, or Icaridin. Essential oil-based repellents are a more natural alternative, but only offer short-term protection as they evaporate faster on the skin.
Lemongrass candles smell nice but don’t seem to be very effective. Powerful fans, on the other hand, can confuse mosquitoes and prevent them from landing.
Mosquitoes have been shown to be attracted to human sweat. But skip your perfume – fragrances are also known to attract mosquitoes and other bugs, so opt for a fragrance-free deodorant and give your skin a break.
If you want to safely keep mosquitoes away and still smell delicious, try coconut oil instead. The fatty acids it contains have proven to be a highly effective repellent against mosquitoes and other blood-sucking insects such as horse flies, ticks and bed bugs.
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