The presence of the tiger mosquito, which causes dengue fever, has been identified in 67 metropolitan departments, according to the French Public Health. All you need to know about this dangerous viral disease.
Originally from Southeast Asia, the dengue virus has become a reality in France in recent years.
67 metropolitan districts were affected
Blame the spread of mosquitoes of the genus Aedes – including the subgenus Albopictuscommonly known as the tiger mosquito – that transmits this viral disease.
“Those mosquitoes Aedes They develop mainly in urban areas and move very little during their lives,” he explains Public Health Francewhich gives a list of habitats of anthropogenic nature (created by man), favorable to the laying of eggs of female mosquitoes: “Vases, saucers, used tyres, badly emptied gutters, various wastes containing standing water, as well as hollows of trees, some plants which Likely to form water retention (bamboo, etc.).”
The tiger mosquito thus colonized 67 metropolitan districts in 2022, starting from the Aisne in the north, to Corsica in the south, through the Loire-Atlantique in the west, Alsace in the east, and all of Ile-de-France.
What are the symptoms?
“The most common symptoms are fever and joint pain,” with complications that “can be severe,” according to the French Journal of Public Health.
In 50 to 90% of dengue symptoms, in its acute form (5 to 1% of symptomatic cases), it is “characterized by increased vascular permeability that can lead to shock and potentially life-threatening bleeding”.
For the so-called “classic” dengue fever, Public Health France indicates that high fever can be accompanied by “chills, headache, retroorbital pain, nausea, vomiting, joint and muscle pain, and rash intermittently on the fifth day of the day. symptoms”.
The average incubation period for infected people is four to seven days, but it can range from three to fourteen days.
from 1any From May to December 9, 2022, 272 imported cases of dengue fever were identified in mainland France, while as of October 16, 2022, 65 authenticated cases of dengue fever were identified.
How do you protect yourself?
If there is a vaccine in the French overseas departments, the best way to prevent dengue remains individual prevention of mosquito bites.
So the French Public Health Authority recommended the use of “insect repellents in sprays or creams, coils, electric diffusers, long clothes and mosquito nets,” explaining that Aedes mosquitoes bite mainly during the day and outside homes.
The “peak of aggression” will occur even at dawn and dusk. If the sweltering heat of summer calls for you to stay outside as much as possible, now is the time to be vigilant against tiger mosquitoes and dengue fever.
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