2023-06-22 13:02:40
Updated Thursday, June 22, 2023 – 13:02
Heat waves, the trend toward longer summers, and increasingly common flooding create more favorable conditions for invasive mosquito species to spread diseases like Zika
Mosquitoes in a file image.OLIVIER MORINAFPNurse Saturada Everything you need to know about mosquitoes and their repellents
The risk of appearance of diseases transmitted by mosquitos As the dengue and the chikungunya has increased in Europe due to change in weather conditions. This has been warned this Thursday by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). This is influenced by heat waves, floods (which are becoming more and more common) and the tendency to have increasingly longer and hotter summers.
All this has created more favorable conditions for invasive species of mosquitoes such as Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti, which also spread yellow fever and flu viruses. zika and the Need occidental.
In a decade, Aedes albopictus has gone from being present in eight countries and 114 regions of the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA) to 13 and 337, respectively.
In the EU last year 71 cases of dengue contracted locally (six of them in Spain and 65 in France), which is equivalent to the total number reported between 2010 and 2021.
The number of cases of Occidental Nile virus It rose to 1,133 in 2022 (1,112 contracted locally), with 92 deaths, the highest number since the 2018 peak, with Italy (723) and Greece (286) at the forefront and four cases in Spain.
“In recent years we have seen a geographic expansion of invasive mosquito species to previously unaffected areas in the EU. If this continues, we can expect more cases and possibly more deaths from diseases like dengue, chikungunya and West Nile fever,” ECDC Director Andrea Ammon said in a statement.
Ammon inst a control mosquito populationsstrengthen control and impose personal protection measures.
ECDC, which is based in Stockholm, mentions initiatives such as eliminating stagnant water sources, where mosquitoes breed; use environmentally friendly larvicides and promote community awareness about the control of these species.
Protective measures include the use of mosquito nets on the beds, sleeping in air-conditioned rooms, window grills, repellent and wearing clothing that covers “most of the body.”
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