This tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus)A carrier of serious diseases and, until recently, a complete stranger in Spain, finds himself more and more comfortable here. This is due to none other than the higher temperatures recorded during the fall and winter months supporting its spread.
The activity of this species usually begins in Spain in April and ends in mid-November, but this time its existence lasted longer. “After mid-November, they remained more active than in other years.” confirms Àlex Richter-Boix, a researcher at Pompeu Fabra University and a member of Mosquito Alert, a monitoring system for these insects.
The abnormally high temperatures recorded this fall-winter season create an ideal situation for the tiger mosquito to breed. Basing much of his work on observations by private citizens and then transferring them to a database, Mosquito Alert confirmed the progress of this breed in Spain.
Autumn-winter increase
“We found that if observations in November-December of previous years represented between 1% and 2% of the total annual tiger mosquitoes in Spain, In 2022, the observations of that period, especially November, represent almost 5%”, about three times that of just a year ago..
“Although it was a relatively low mosquito year due to droughts, the high temperatures in November allowed mosquitoes to prolong their activity,” Richter-Boix confirms. In fact, a tiger mosquito sighting was reported in Catalonia on January 1, but experts are waiting for more data to find out if this is just an anecdotal case or if there is “really an increase” in mid-winter.
The largest activity of the tiger mosquito is concentrated in urban and peri-urban areas of the Mediterranean coast, including the islands., “but it is slowly spreading to the interior and northern provinces. It already exists in the Basque Country, Aragon, Madrid and other autonomies,” adds the expert.
Cars and transport trucks “accelerate its spread across the territory of Europe and Spain, allowing the mosquito to travel great distances and colonize municipalities that it cannot reach so quickly on its own.”
It transmits tropical diseases such as the tiger mosquito. dengue, chikungunya, or zika. It was first spotted in Spain in 2004 and is quite active during the day. It usually breeds in containers with standing water, such as buckets, pots, dishes, or small puddles.
Àlex Richter-Boix emphasizes the importance of citizen collaboration in reporting observations of this and other mosquito species; Mosquito Alert app, very easy to use and downloadable on this website.
TIGER Mosquito Hazards
The tiger mosquito is considered a public health problem not only because of its bite, but also because of its ability to transmit many diseases.
It has been shown experimentally in the laboratory that it can transmit up to 22 different viruses. These include Rift Valley fever, Japanese encephalitis virus, or West Nile virus. In practice, the main diseases that can be transmitted in our environment are: dengue fever, zika, Chikungunya Y yellow fever.
In Europe, the mosquito has been responsible for chikungunya outbreaks in Italy and France. Local cases of dengue transmitted by tiger mosquitoes have also been reported in France, Croatia and Spain. In 2019, the first domestic Zika cases in Europe were confirmed in France, where the tiger mosquito was involved.
In addition to feeding on humans, the species bites a variety of animals, primarily mammals. This versatility increases health risk by transmitting pathogens from animals to humans and vice versa.
Mosquitoes can also transmit dog heartworm, also known as “heartworm”, a disease caused by parasitic nematodes. The parasite primarily affects dogs and other canines such as wolves, foxes and coyotes. Although it can affect humans as well, the chance of this happening is very low.
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