Asian mosquito carries deadly disease to Britain
Pastor Dale Morgan
Asian mosquito carries deadly disease to Britain*
By David Thomas
Last Updated: 2:12PM BST 26/05/2008
An Asian species of mosquito which can transmit a potentially lethal
tropical disease is poised to arrive in Britain.
The Asian tiger mosquito has established itself in large areas of
continental Europe and health protection experts believe it could now
move across the Channel.
In northern Italy, the mosquito has infected scores of people with
chikungunya fever and one woman died last year during the outbreak in
Ravenna, on Italy’s Adriatic coast.
Those struck down by the disease, which the mosquito can transmit from
person to person, suffer fever, headaches, insomnia, rashes and
persistent joint pain and in very extreme cases the infection can lead
to death.
The mosquito has never been found in this country, but a study by the
Health Protection Agency (HPA) has found that “widespread establishment”
of the insect is possible in the British climate.
Germany and the Netherlands have both reported the insect, which is
believed to have spread to Europe inside used car tyres and bamboo
houseplants imported from the Far East.
Between June and September 2007 there were 292 suspected cases of
chikungunya fever in Ravenna, where the Asian tiger mosquito first
appeared in 1990.
The outbreak began when the newly arrived mosquitoes spread the disease
from a single infected tourist to scores of local residents.
A report from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
(ECDC) concluded the importance of the Italian outbreak “should not be
underestimated”.
Scientists investigated a reported sighting of an Asian tiger mosquito,
Aedes albopictus, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in August last year,
but found it to be false.
However growing numbers of UK holiday makers travelling to the Far East
are returning home infected with the disease.
A spokesman for the HPA said there was a “potential risk” of the
mosquito coming to the UK but played down the chance of an outbreak of
chikungunya fever. While the mosquito could breed here, the climate is
too cold for the virus to survive, and global warming should not make a
difference.
“If it was to become established in the UK it is unlikely transmission
would occur because the climate is currently too cold. If you think of
the climate of South East Asia, it is significantly hotter than it is
here. It is true to say there was an outbreak in Northern Italy, but
even that area has a different climate to the UK.”