Every year it seems that the ‘mosquito situation’ gets worse than the previous one. There are so many, too many, infesting every corner, ready to strike at any time of day, even in the heart of town. In addition, they seem to be almost completely immune to the specific repellent products on the market to keep them away. Last week, in the central areas of Lugo, in the area limited by the streets Acquacalda, Risorgimento, Macello Vecchio, della Libertà, Garibaldi, Relencini and Baracca, the alarm was raised for a suspected case of dengue fever, which was later found not to be so by the analyses of the Romagna Local Health Authority which, if it had been proven to be real, would have triggered extraordinary interventions, in a mix of generalized adulticide treatments and door-to-door visits, in private outdoor areas between courtyards and gardens. To stem the situation, as every year, the Municipality of Lugo, as happens throughout the Union of Bassa Romagna, has started the free distribution, in line with regional directives, of the antilarval product to be used in the wells. Distribution that is renewed every month for the entire summer season until October 31. The effects, however, are not so evident.
The reports that reach the office of hygiene, health and environmental education are continuous and often also bounce on social channels. After the positive finding of West Nile virus verified in samples of mosquitoes captured in the provinces of Parma and Ferrara, the municipalities of Bassa Romagna have adopted specific ordinances that provide for the obligation of extraordinary preventive disinfestation interventions in the event of events with significant attendance of 200 or more people, outdoors, in the evening hours, in areas not affected by ordinary preventive disinfestation with larvicides. The same dynamic is also extended to events organized in urban areas where public drains are periodically treated with larval products, based on the results of the evaluation of the ecological conditions and any extraordinary interventions carried out in collaboration with the Department of Public Health of the Romagna Local Health Authority. For citizens, the usual recommendations remain valid: carry out larvicidal treatments in private areas and remove any possible stagnant water, even if, in many voices, the request is to increase the periodic treatments provided for by the Regional Anti-Mosquito Plan and ensured by the administrations.
Monia Savioli