Summer promises to be hot. After a very wet spring, we can indeed expect large numbers of mosquitoes and flies in the weeks and months to come. As soon as temperatures rise, we will see a first peak in the coming weeks, according to Frédéric Francis, professor of entomology at Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech – University of Liège.
“You should know that to have a significant development of any insect population, it is necessary to have a combination of humidity and heathe explains. And for the moment, we have a lot of fairly high humidity with rather low temperatures for the season and therefore a slowed development of these populations even if they are very present. If we go back to more than 20 degrees in the days and weeks to come, their development cycle will accelerate and the insects in the larval stage will move on to the adult stage, which risks causing a lot of inconvenience.”
gullIt is essential to closely monitor the tiger mosquito in order to intervene quickly and limit its spread.”
As a reminder, mosquitoes thrive in stagnant water and therefore often around homes when empty containers are left outside. When it rains, adult populations lay eggs and the larvae subsequently develop.
The development of flies is also favored by rising temperatures. “We can, however, influence their development a little more, since it strongly depends on the amount of decomposing matter the flies can feed on.”, adds Peter Berx, entomologist. We will have to wait until August to find out if summer will also be that of wasps. This is strongly linked to the fruit season.
According to an annual survey carried out by Vapona among 1,000 Belgians as part of the “little beasts barometer”, we learn that a third of Belgians therefore expect to be more inconvenienced than last year, knowing that Nearly one in five Belgians are bitten at least once a day by a mosquito during the summer.
FOR Belgians, the main nuisances are mosquitoes (79%), flies (67%) and wasps (62%).
Tiger mosquito in Belgium: “If it establishes and spreads further, local transmission of certain diseases such as dengue is possible”
The proliferation of tiger mosquitoes warns as summer approaches
With the Olympics, millions of visitors are also expected this summer in Paris, less than an hour by train from Brussels, and potentially as many viruses, bacteria and other parasites. The number of people arriving in mainland France after being infected by tiger mosquitoes is unprecedented this year, suggesting a record season, announced the Pasteur Institute in France.
gullThe Olympics represent a large gathering to watch closely”
A situation that could have an effect in Belgium? “It is true that the Olympics represent a large gathering of people who come from all over the world and potentially carry the virus for some, so this can quickly become problematic.reminds the Professor. This risk would become high if many people were infected and found themselves as the Source of the virus, the mosquito then feeds on someone infected then spreads it to someone healthy and so on. As long as it does not carry the disease, we are only concerned with the inconvenience of the bite but it is certain that we will have to monitor the situation closely”.
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Faced with this situation, scientists are imagining a possible scenario around a possible peak of dengue fever during the Games, a tropical flu transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, the event being able to encourage the mixing of populations and the importation of diseases such as dengue fever by people from tropical countries.
In order to limit the proliferation of the tiger mosquito, Santé Publique France emphasizes that it is first necessary to prevent the larvae from developing in stagnant water.such as under pots, waste, gutters, etc.” “The tiger mosquito is not only a Source of nuisance, it also represents a health risk because it can transmit viruses such as dengue, chikungunya or zika from one person to another, underlines Isra Deblauwe, entomologist at ITG. It is therefore essential to closely monitor the tiger mosquito in order to intervene quickly and limit its spread. This year we have already noticed that the tiger mosquito spends the winter in Ath and Kessel-Lo. With the constant help of the population, we are monitoring the situation closely”.
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Last year, tiger mosquitoes were observed in 18 different locations in Belgium. Sciensano and theAntwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine (IMT) recently officially announced the start of mosquito season by appealing to the public to help them search for the Asian tiger mosquito.
