11 indigenous cases in Var, for a total of 29 cases in mainland France this year

Eleven cases of dengue fever have been detected in the town of La Crau, in the Var, France Bleu Provence learned on Tuesday, September 3, from the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Regional Health Agency (ARS Paca). With these new cases, the total in mainland France now climbs to 29 indigenous cases, i.e. transmitted on site by a mosquito. The first indigenous case of this season in mainland France dates back to Monday, July 8 in Hérault.

In this Var commune, the signs of the first cases were dated to August 5, indicates Public Health France, in a national report on dengue fever dated August 28. But the first indigenous case of dengue fever in La Crau was made official on August 19, indicates the ARS Paca. The latter adds that to prevent the spread of the disease, “mosquito control operations […] are underway in the municipality, on public roads and in private gardens.”

Concerning imported cases of dengue fever, that is to say that the person was contaminated in a tropical zone and returned infected to mainland France, Public Health France recorded 1,164 from May 1 to August 27, 2024, “including 1 036 in the departments where the establishment of ‘Aedes albopictus’ (tiger mosquito) has been documented”.

As a reminder, we speak of an indigenous case when a person has contracted the disease in the “metropolitan” territory and has not traveled to a contaminated area in the 15 days preceding the onset of symptoms. Dengue is a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes to humans, most often benign, which can develop, in approximately 1% of cases, into a more serious form causing bleeding in particular. Deaths are very rare.