It’s a vacationer’s nightmare: a small insect that often bites you at night and then causes irritation. It’s obviously mosquitoes. They are very numerous this summer in the Occitanie region, in Grau-du-Roi, in Aigues-Mortes, in La Grande-Motte. This sector was recently hit by high temperatures and then major storms. All the elements favorable to the proliferation of mosquitoes “rural“.
The department of Pyrénées-Orientales is also impacted, in a very localized area located around the pond of Salses-Leucate. “It is a very swampy area, subject to strong sea winds and you should know that the mosquito will go from the state of larva, egg, to the adult state in four days. It is during this very short period that we must treat these areas“, explains André Palau, head of the EID agency which controls the proliferation of mosquitoes in the wetlands of the coast. Since the beginning of the year, 1,700 hectares have been treated around the Salses pond with an organic insecticide.
In June alone, three treatments were carried out, but the last one had to be interrupted due to the fire that ravaged the Salses-Opoul sector ten days ago. “We operate by air to be more efficient but it was the same area of operation as that flown over by the canadairs, and obviously they had priority“, details the expert. These 65 hectares were therefore treated 24 hours later, “but given the very high temperatures, the larvae developed“, he adds.
– Marion FERRERE
“We see people arriving with dozens of bites on their arms. It’s sometimes very impressive! People who were shirtless and who have about twenty bites on their backs!”
As a result, more people get bitten. “We’ve been seeing more patients for the past few days. Adults, children, locals, tourists… everyone is concerned“, assures Amandine, pharmacist in Salses. Elagio, who lives in Opoul, confirms: “mhe wife gets devoured as soon as she comes here. Legs, arms… Everything that is available goes there!“, he explains.
In the pharmacy, repellent and soothing products are also displayed near the cash register and at the entrance. “We see people arriving with dozens of bites on their arms. It is sometimes very impressive! People who were shirtless and who have about twenty bites on their backs! It can be very annoying for children who often have more important reactions“, confides Youssef Akkari, the head of the pharmacy.
To protect yourself, he advises putting on repellent several times a day and wearing long-sleeved t-shirts, especially in the early evening, when mosquitoes reappear. “The less the skin is exposed, the less risk there is. Mosquitoes really look for any place that has not been protected“, he specifies. On the side of the EID, experts hope that this nuisance will decrease within a few daysmosquitoes cannot withstand the high heat expected next week in the department.