Elena Molodkina
8 hours ago
A mosquito becomes infected from an infected person and carries the virus further. Before Europe had time to deal with bed bugs, a new threat loomed. Now the attention of specialists has to be focused on two fronts.
The carrier of the dengue virus is the Asian tiger mosquito. While the disease in Europe was usually diagnosed only in travelers returning from Asian countries, by the end of October 105 cases of local infection had already been recorded. 66 people fell ill in Italy, 36 in France and three in Spain. But in fact there may be much more infected, since 50-90% of people are asymptomatic.
The situation is complicated by the fact that uninfected mosquitoes can also become carriers, becoming infected by biting a sick person and then transmitting the virus to a healthy person. In addition, a mosquito infected with the virus will lay infected eggs, from which more mosquitoes with the dengue virus will emerge.
As scientists say, adults like to breed in warm and humid places. It is enough to place a container of water under the plants on the balcony – it will be an ideal incubator.
– What we are seeing in Europe is a new problem. It is an extremely adaptive mosquito due to its genetic diversity. But it will take several years to establish a population, says medical entomologist Didier Fontenille.
Other mosquitoes help fight the mosquitoes that spread dengue fever. This practice already exists in some countries – mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia were imported into cities in Indonesia and Vietnam. This is a bacterium that prevents the transmission of viruses to insects, and the number of dangerous mosquitoes is reduced.
Source: Nature
Photo source: freepik.com ru.freepik.com
2023-11-03 13:40:46
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