At least three Dutch people were infected with the dengue virus by a bite of a tiger mosquito in France last summer, the platform Stop invasive exotics reports Monday. The virus causes dengue fever.
In the past month, a man and woman contracted the disease from a bite from a tiger mosquito in the southern French department of Var. Another woman became infected in the Ardèche.
According to the platform, this is the first time Dutch people in Europe have become infected with the dengue virus. Infected persons may develop fever, severe headache, pain in the muscles, bones and joints, skin rashes and vomiting. In some cases, infection can lead to death.
The tiger mosquito is native to Asia. The mosquito has spread over large parts of the world via international transport and is now also found in the south of Europe. The tiger mosquito was first found in the Netherlands in 2005, but the species has not yet infected anyone in the Netherlands with the dengue virus.
The tiger mosquito mainly bites during the day and can also transmit the chikungunya and zika viruses. Because the diseases chikungunya and zika hardly occur in humans in the Netherlands, the risk of spread is very small, according to the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA).
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