Long spared from the tiger mosquito, Haute-Loire is seeing colonies gaining ground. In 2023, the Regional Health Agency (ARS) reported seven municipalities affected, including Brioude, Sainte-Florine and Langeac.
For a dozen years, the tiger mosquito has settled comfortably in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. “Only the departments of Allier and Haute-Loire remain little impacted with occasional presence detections,” adds the ARS in its press release published on April 18.
The tiger mosquito settles in Puy-en-Velay and Brioude
But, in 2022, Altiligère communes were officially colonized with Rosières and Bas-en-Basset. Then their number increased to seven in 2023 with the colonization by the tiger mosquito in Puy-en-Velay, Langeac, Aurec-sur-Loire, Brioude and Sainte-Florine. “We will not be able to go back,” immediately warns Céline Malartic, member of the Haute-Loire ARS delegation.
The ARS monitors the proliferation of the tiger mosquito thanks to reports from individuals and nesting traps. In 2024, 19 municipalities in Haute-Loire will have them. “We obtained information from the colonized municipalities thanks to this system. Once a month, our operator, Eirad, goes to the site to find out if the tiger mosquito is present. For example, if we have two positive traps which are very distant, we can conclude that he is well established in the town”, summarizes Céline Malartic.
We monitor people returning from trips to intertropical areas such as the Antilles.
For its part, the ARS focuses its forces on the risk of disease transmission. The tiger mosquito can carry dengue, chikungunya and Zika. Moreover, 13 cases of dengue fever, probably imported, were recorded in Haute-Loire in 2023, according to the ARS. “We are monitoring people who return from trips to intertropical areas like the Antilles.”
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If a person carrying one of these diseases is bitten by a tiger mosquito, then it can transmit it to someone else. “Our main goal is to prevent the tiger mosquito from encountering a sick person.” To do this, the ARS receives declarations from health professionals and asks its operator to intervene in the municipality in which the infected person lives.
A collective fight against the tiger mosquito
“We have two types of actions: communication and prevention towards the public and local communities in order to reduce larval breeding sites. This is the most effective in removing places where the tiger mosquito could lay eggs,” shares Céline Malartic.
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Everyone has a role to play. Unlike the local mosquito, the tiger lays eggs in small reservoirs. A larval breeding site can be as much a dish of water on the plants as a wheelbarrow or toys left outside. “Emptying these cups, putting sand in them, cleaning rainwater drains or simply putting away what is outside is the most effective way to reduce the quantity of tiger mosquitoes,” advises she said.
Report online. It is possible to contribute to the monitoring of the tiger mosquito by indicating its presence on the signalement-moustique.fr website and sending a photo. It is also possible to send a neutralized specimen to the Interdepartmental Agreement for Mosquito Control (Eirad), in a condition allowing its identification. The objective? Analyze reports concerning non-colonized municipalities. For some, an entomological investigation may be carried out. Please note that as an individual, you have the possibility of sending a request for an expertise to the EID Rhône-Alpes. Agents will come to your home to help you identify places where the tiger mosquito can develop while telling you the right actions to take to limit its proliferation.
For the moment, Haute-Loire is focused on prevention around the tiger mosquito while other municipalities in the region had to carry out massive treatments last summer. “We are not going to do insecticide treatments because they can be dangerous for other insects. In addition, if we use these products, they can become resistant. We use this solution only if it is to avoid an epidemic risk, that is to say being able to treat around areas where there are sick people and where there are mosquitoes”, reassures the member of the ARS Haute-Loire who once again insists on the importance of limiting larval breeding sites. This is the priority.
Felix Mouraille
