The insect, present only in the south of France in 2013, has taken up residence in 71 departments.
They bite (almost) everywhere. In a few years, tiger mosquitoes have gradually settled in France. At the start of 2023, 71 departments are colonized byAedes albopictusout of the 96 departments of France, announced the Ministry of Health, in a press release published on April 21.
Ten years earlier, in 2013, less than twenty departments were concerned, mainly in the south of France. “Its extension is inevitable, estimates the entomologist Didier Fontenille, with France 3 Paris Ile-de-France. It is an urban insect that travels in cars and lays its eggs in water collections. He likes human blood, which in town there is no shortage of.”
Visualize its progressive installation in the country for ten years with our maps below.
As of January 1, 2023, three quarters of French departments must now deal with the establishment of the tiger mosquito, even in the north of France. Originally from Asia, it is the vector of diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya or Zika. The Ministry of Health has set up a tiger mosquito reporting portal that anyone can use.
Although the phenomenon is relatively new in France, it is already well known in the overseas departments where “the mosquito is already part of everyday life”summarizes Anna-Bella Failloux, specialist in mosquito-related diseases at the Institut Pasteur, to France 3 Paris Ile-de-France. “In France, we will now have to learn to live with it.”
To limit the risks, “The first thing to do is to make life difficult for him”, advises the director of research at the Research Institute for Development (IRD) in Montpellier. How ? By eliminating all the places where water can stagnate, by emptying the containers, or by covering the tanks and the swimming pools when they are not used.