Geneva organized a health alert exercise for the first time in connection with the Tiger mosquito. A fictitious demoustification device has been set up in Thônex (GE) following the diagnosis, also fictitious, of a case of dengue.
This operation made it possible to test an alert action comparable to that which would be activated in Geneva in the event of proven presence of a risk of transmission of tropical disease linked to the Tiger Mosquito, the health department said on Friday in a press release.
This training was led Wednesday and Thursday by the Cantonal Health Office and the Cantonal Office for Agriculture and Nature. It was carried out as part of the cantonal tiger mosquito management plan.
According to the proposed scenario, a man returning from Brazil had contracted dengue. He was then stung in his garden by tiger mosquitoes, which can locally transmit this disease. Following a health survey, which made it possible to bring together these different elements, the alert was triggered.
Initially, an intervention team informed residents of the district in which the case of fictitious dengue was diagnosed by the health services to ensure access to the gardens. This communication aimed to guarantee that the demustic team could intervene the next day to temporarily eliminate adult tiger mosquitoes.
Transmission locale
The expansion of the tiger mosquito in Geneva makes it possible for local transmission of tropical diseases such as chikungunya, dengue and zika. Present in many regions of the world, these diseases can be imported into Switzerland by travelers from contagion zones and could be transmitted locally through the tiger mosquito.
Currently, dengue’s epidemics are underway mainly in South America, the Antilles and Southeast Asia, while a major chikungunya epidemic is raging on certain islands of the Indian Ocean. The canton recommends after a trip to the regions at risk of protecting itself from mosquito bites for 14 days after the return.
Punctual operation
In the event of demoustication, the sites that can house potentially infected tigers mosquitoes are treated with Pyrethrin, a natural and biodegradable product targeting insects. Its use is limited to bushes up to 1.50 m high, vegetable gardens and wasteland.
After three days, the product is naturally broken down and food products in the garden can be consumed again. The small accumulations of artificial water which cannot be removed or dried up are treated with an anti-scare and with a silicone oil targeting mosquito nymphs.
A demustication operation targeting adult mosquitoes is only useful if it is carried out in the presence of an immediate health risk, with the objective of removing tigers mosquitoes that can be temporarily carrying disease. Apart from this framework, such an operation would be counterproductive because it could locally destroy the predatory insects of mosquitoes.
This article was published automatically. Source: ATS
