If you spend a lot of time in France or Spain, you have undoubtedly seen the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) landing on your body. The animal also occasionally occurs in the Netherlands. What do we know about the Asian tiger mosquito?
1. The Asian tiger mosquito has been in Europe since 1990
The Asian tiger mosquito is – surprisingly – originally from Asia, but it became in 1990 for the first time in Europe spotted. He had traveled to Italy via car tires. Tropical diseases are increasingly finding their way to the Netherlands due to the fading borders.
Since 2005, the Asian tiger mosquito has been spotted incidentally in our country, but it does not seem to have established itself definitively yet. For this, the mosquito must be seen for a longer period of time and on a regular basis. To prevent the spread of the mosquito, the breeding grounds and the mosquitoes themselves are actively combated by the Dutch government.
2. The bite of the tiger mosquito resembles that of a normal mosquito
Whether you have been bitten by an Asian tiger mosquito or by a Dutch mosquito is quite difficult to tell from the bite itself. The bump also itches no more or less than other mosquito bites. However, the Asian tiger mosquito bites mainly during the day, unlike most native mosquitoes. If you have been bitten by a mosquito during the day, it could therefore be the Asian tiger mosquito.
3. The Asian tiger mosquito can transmit diseases
The chances are small, but what happens if you are bitten by an Asian tiger mosquito? If the Asian tiger mosquito has preyed on your blood, you will of course get a mosquito bite. That’s annoying, but if you’re unlucky, you can also get sick. The Asian mosquito can transmit diseases such as dengue fever (dengue) and chikungunya.
If you suddenly develop a high fever, aching muscles and joints, and a headache one to 12 days after the bite, you need to keep a close eye on yourself. Especially if you get purple-red spots after two to three days, you should go to the doctor quickly. Those are the symptoms of chikungunya.
If you get dengue from the tiger mosquito, you also suddenly develop a fever. Dengue causes skin rashes, but also coughing, sore throat and change in taste. The most typical symptom is a severe pain in your bones.
4. The risk of tropical diseases increases slightly due to the mosquito
Fortunately, the chance of becoming ill in the Netherlands after a bite from the Asian tiger mosquito is negligible. After all, the mosquito hardly flies around here and tropical diseases such as dengue and chikungunya do not (yet) occur here. The mosquito must first contract the disease itself before it can transmit it to you. He is not born with dengue fever. In Asia, getting sick from the Asian tiger mosquito is a much more realistic scenario.
In Southern Europe, the risk of an infection is increasing. In 2022, 71 cases of dengue fever were diagnosed in Europe. Most infections occurred in France (65 cases). The remaining six in Spain. Now 71 infections is not that much when you consider that millions of people live there, but it is the same number of infections as the past eleven years combined. According to insect expert Willem Takken, we have to wait until we also have to deal with such tropical diseases in the Netherlands.
5. You can report Asian tiger mosquitoes to the government
If you see the Asian tiger mosquito, you can get one report it to the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority. This way we can keep an eye on whether the mosquito is establishing itself in our country. You can easily recognize the Asian tiger mosquito by its black and white stripes. They are also very small (smaller than a 10 cent coin). The tip of its hind legs is white.
The Asian tiger mosquito would certainly not be the first spreader of tropical diseases in the Netherlands.
2023-08-31 12:31:56
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