How France is bracing for wave of mosquito borne infections • FRANCE 24 English
it’s an early start for past control agents operating in the mar region they’ve been called in to inspect the home of a young woman who contracted Deni fever while on a trip abroad it’s now a Race Against Time to prevent a chain of transmission the viral infection doesn’t spread from Human to human but through tiger mosquitoes capable of carrying the virus if I get bitten and then my neighbors get bitten they’ll get infected then there’s a risk of transmission and an epidemic we call them native cases meaning the person didn’t travel but got bitten here by a mosquito that bit someone who just got back from a trip abroad The Haunt for adult mosquitoes and larv can now begin agents must rule out their presence within a radius of 150 M before or they become a vector of the disease their White Stripes make them easy to recognize there on your trousers it’s a tiger mosquito it’s a vacuum for insects when a mosquito lands on me or on the vegetation we try to catch it we can then identify the species a few meters away they make another discovery plant pots vases and other recipients containing water are the ideal breeding ground for Tiger mosquitoes emptying them is a simple yet effective option to neutralize the tropical species but the observation of a single individual is enough to trigger a fumigation operation a few days later a vehicle sprayed insecticide across the neighborhood the these images were taken during a similar intervention in 2023 behind mesh curtains scientist from the atit keep a collection of mosquitoes from samples across the country these are mosquitoes from straussburg since it was first spotted on French soil in 2004 the Asian tiger mosquito has rapidly gained ground colonizing all French regions the tropical species also taking hold in 13 other European countries as the climate warms scientists say that many places are becoming more hospitable to mosquitoes the mosquito season will get longer meaning you’ll see mosquitoes from early spring to late Autumn with a peak in density during the summer and that’s when people travel the most entire mosquito colonies are bred here in the name of science in a highly secure lab researchers deliberately infect healthy specimens with different viruses this and the hope of understanding how their immune system could be reinforced if we find a way to manipulate the mosquito’s immunity so that they can fend off the virus then mosquitoes won’t be able to transmit the virus the French institution is also making Headway in the development of a new vaccine a single shot against a large family of so-called flavy viruses including dangi fever their work begins with one of the most powerful microscopes in the world this is the Titan cry microscope in this microscope we don’t have glass lenses we have electromagnetic lenses and this allow allow us to get a the higher magnification of the object we are looking at samples of Deni zika and West Nile fever have been analyzed here magnified up to 300,000 times giving researchers A fine grain look at how different viruses and antibodies interact so this is what we H get from the microscope the data that we collect from the microscope then we will end up uh with a reconstruction of the virus scientists say the nature of these viruses has made it extremely difficult to develop a vaccine generating the right immune response after an infection with Deni for example the body generate different type of antibodies and only a subset of this antibody are neutralizing can really block the virus other antibodies are even delerious they can even announce infection a badly designed vaccine could therefore prove to be more dangerous than the virus itself to avoid that researchers are drawing inspiration from a highly effective yellow fever shot in the meantime two Deni specific vaccines are available but offer just limited protection
Europe must brace for a rise in mosquito borne infections. That was the warning issued by the EU’s health commissioner earlier this month, pointing to the growing risk of tropical illnesses spreading due to global warming. Here in France, record cases of dengue fever have been reported since the start of 2024. Most of them are people who have traveled to French overseas territories. Authorities warn this could result in people getting infected on French soil, in a wave of native cases. Our team at Down to Earth has this report.
#mosquitos #disease #Dengue
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7 comments
They can use what they learned in Martinique and Guadalupe
why does she have s omuch empty recipient in her garden ? Does she want to cultivate mosquitoes??
Panicking
Curtesy of Bill Gates . . .
They’ll come north anyway as the climate gets warmer
I live in America. Mosquitoes aren't bad near my house. I see bats flying around in the evenings eating the mosquitoes.
First time hearing Aedes Mosquito called Tiger mosquito