Expert Diego Fontaneto (CNR): “Two Korean and Japanese arrived in Italy, stinging even during the day”. And to disappear this year we would have to wait until December
«No mosquitoes? They are perhaps more abundant now in mid-late October than in summer ». Experts confirm the feeling that many Italians have in these days of abnormal heat: mosquitoes do not cease to torment, even if it is late autumn. “Many plants and flowers are also blooming now, while in the summer, with the great heat and drought, they entered a phase of stasis to save energy. Mosquitoes also exploit the first rains and the water reserves they find in puddles or saucers, an ideal ground for their larvae “, explains Diego Fontaneto, research manager of the Cnr of the Water Research Institute (Cnr-Irsa) of the Verbania Pallanza office.
Alien species
But it’s not just a question of climate changes. «Il global warming it is an important component, but of equal importance is globalization and the exchange of goods », explains Fontaneto. “The mosquitoes that are biting now are not the” homegrown “ones (Culex pipiens). Most of them are “alien” mosquitoes imported with trade, in particular the Tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), originally from south-eastern Asia but arrived in Italy in the early nineties coming from the United States where it was already present in the forties, and the korean mosquito (Aedes koreicus), which came to us about ten years ago but now well installed in the Po Valley, not to mention the Japanese mosquito (Aedes japonicus)».
The arrival with the trade
These are very annoying species because, unlike homegrown mosquitoes, they bite not only after sunset but at any time of day and resist lower temperatures. «The tiger mosquito bites until November, the Korean mosquito will not get rid of us until temperatures go below 10 degrees, preferably below 5 degrees», Continues the expert.
The Korean was reported for the first time in Italy in 2011 in the province of Bellunobut it is believed that it “landed” at the Bergamo airport of Orio al Serio. There has been news of the Japanese in Italy since 2015.
The diseases
“These alien species are not only annoying, but also dangerous because they can carry the pathogens of certain diseases,” says Fontaneto. The tiger is a vector of diseases such as dengue e chikungunya, the Korean and the Japanese of Japanese encephalitis and, in dogs, of filariasis. How can we get rid of it? «Avoid in any way i stagnant water in barrels and sub-tanksi », continues the researcher. “There disinfestation it serves but relatively, because these species are small and are also carried by the wind. Unless we use very powerful insecticides, but which have serious side effects such as the elimination of all insects, even useful ones, and damage to human health ». We hope for the arrival of the cold.
October 20, 2022 (change October 21, 2022 | 09:58)
© Time.News