Dozens of traps Aedes albopictus have been installed in recent weeks around the Olympic sites of Île-de-France, while the proliferation of the insect is considered worrying.
L’Aedes albopictus, Summer Olympics surprise? As the biggest sporting event of the year approaches, health authorities are trying to chase away the tiger mosquito, whose proliferation in France is causing concern. At the foot of the Stade de France, in Seine-Saint-Denis, where the athletics events will be held, an insect trap has been placed and has been monitored for several weeks.
“It consists of a black bucket in which we put water, an organic larvicide and polystyrene,” Kevin Meignan, head of vector control at the Regional Mosquito Control Agency, explains to BFMTV. “We then analyze it in the laboratory to decide on the presence of tiger mosquitoes but also to quantify it.”
500 traps in eight departments
Limiting the establishment and spread of the tiger mosquito each year is essential because it can be a vector of diseases such as the dengue, chikungunya or zika. The insect can contract one of these diseases by biting an infected person returning from a trip to tropical areas where these viruses circulate. He can then transmit the virus by biting another person.
Since the start of the week, twelve departments in the country have been placed on purple alert, the maximum level of vigilance. According to the Ministry of Health, 78 departments of the metropolis are currently colonized by this insect, including all those in the Île-de-France region.
In total, more than 500 traps are distributed across the eight departments and three airports of Île-de-France. But as the Olympic Games approached, they had to adapt their location.
Tourists made aware
“We are going to target more particularly this year the places of large gatherings such as the Olympic venues and the fan zones in which the surveillance network will be reinforced”, explains to BFMTV Cécile Somarriba, director of monitoring and health security at the Île-de-France regional agency.
The authorities are also seeking to raise awareness among travelers returning from epidemic areas, to invite them to seek medical advice if symptoms appear.
In anticipation of the Olympic Games, “the actions of the public authorities have been reinforced, in particular in terms of awareness and prevention for travelers departing from or arriving in areas endemic for these pathologies, as well as identification and reduction of areas conducive to the proliferation of mosquitoes near places of large gatherings”, warned the ARS in a press release published in mid-May.
Ariel Guez and Margaux de Frouville
