Paris fumigates for tiger mosquitoes as tropical pest spreads across Europe

Health authorities in Paris fumigated areas of the French capital for the first time on Thursday to kill disease-carrying tiger mosquitoes whose rapid advance through northern Europe is thought to have been accelerated by climate change.
Issued on: 31/08/2023 - 17:51
2 min


Tiger mosquitoes arrived in France in 2004 and have spread across the country since. © Valéry Hache, AFP file photo
By:NEWS WIRES





Roads were closed and people asked to stay in their homes in southeast Paris during the early hours of Thursday as pest control contractors sprayed insecticide in trees, green spaces and other mosquito-breeding areas.
Such scenes are a regular occurence in tropical cities and becoming increasingly common in Europe as the tiger mosquito, which can carry the dengue, chikungunya and zika viruses, spreads from its native southeast Asia.
"It was a first in Paris, but it's not the first in France," deputy Paris mayor Anne Souyris, who is in charge of health policy, told BFM television. "The south of France has been affected by tiger mosquitoes for some years."
The regional health body for the capital, ARS Ile-de-France, said the area targeted for fumigation was 150 metres (500 feet) around the home of a person in the 13th district of the capital who had contracted dengue fever while travelling.
"These operations are being carried out to reduce the risk of transmission of dengue after a case was detected," it said.

Paris fumigates for tiger mosquitoes as tropical pest spreads across Europe