on 31 Oct, 11:03
General Short news
ARNHEM – This year tiger mosquitoes were found in seven residential areas in the Netherlands, including in the municipality of Arnhem. This is apparent from catch data from the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA).
According to the foundation platform Stop invasive exotics, this has never happened on such a large scale before. The platform believes that the NVWA should inform and advise the public about the unintentional introduction of tiger mosquitoes much more insistently than has been done until now.
“The tiger mosquito originates from Asia and can transmit more than 20 viral diseases, such as dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika. There is no vaccine or drug for many of these diseases, and they can be fatal. Tiger mosquitoes are already established in many places in southern countries such as France, Italy and Spain due to the import of used tires. In France, for example, there is currently an outbreak of dengue, as a result of the locally present tiger mosquitoes,” according to the foundation.
Nine finds were made in four postcode areas in Arnhem between 5 September and 11 October. These are Bingelradestraat, Bingelradepark and Panheelstraat. Wilfred Reinhold, chairman of the platform: “There are no importers of used tires or Lucky bamboo in these neighbourhoods. It therefore seems very likely that these are people who have been on holiday by car, caravan or plane to France, Spain, Italy or other southern European countries where the tiger mosquito is common. And that those tiger mosquitoes were then hitched home in their car, caravan or luggage.”
“It’s not just about adult mosquitoes. It is also possible, for example, that the tiger mosquitoes have laid eggs on site in a parasol base filled with water, or in water in which plants or cuttings are transported. This has happened several times in recent years, but not on such a large scale as this year.”
“The NVWA has spent a lot of manpower and money on monitoring and combating tiger mosquitoes in residential areas. Not only public health, but also the NVWA benefits from cutting off this introduction route as much as possible. Although the NVWA made an information film about this three years ago, it has only been viewed 85 times in all that time. The NVWA must therefore significantly scale up public information to prevent tiger mosquitoes from being found again in so many residential areas next year.”
Total overview of finds of exotic mosquitoes on the NVWA site: https://www.nvwa.nl/onderwerpen/muggen-knutten-en-teken/vondsten
The NVWA information video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNmc6Oi7pNU