Disease-transmitting mosquitoes on the rise in Algarve and Lisbon
Portugal Resident
Researchers call for citizens’ help to document mosquitoes
The Portuguese Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical da Universidade NOVA de Lisboa – IHMT NOVA) has today warned of a rising number of disease-transmitting mosquitoes in the districts of Faro and Lisbon.
The warning is based on data from mosquitoWEB, a “citizen science” project that relies on citizens’ participation to identify the presence of mosquitoes that transmit dengue fever and yellow fever in Portugal.
The results of the project show “an increase in mosquito submissions in the districts of Faro and Lisbon, namely the invasive species Aedes albopictus (tiger mosquito),” explained IHMT NOVA in a statement.
“This data suggests that there may in fact be a higher concentration of mosquitoes in these areas and is in line with the warning recently issued by the São Domingos de Benfica Parish Council (Lisbon) about the risk of spreading the dengue virus, transmitted by the Aedes albopictus mosquito, which is present in these two districts,” it added.
The platform’s data points to “a high presence of mosquitoes in urban areas with favourable conditions for their proliferation, such as gardens, backyards and other places with containers that hold standing water”.
Teresa Novo, entomologist at IHMT NOVA and operational manager of the mosquitoWEB platform, emphasised that “the scientific evidence obtained through mosquitoWEB reinforces the need for greater public awareness in order to reduce the risk of mosquitoes, vectors of pathogens, spreading in the country”.
“Community participation is essential to protect collective health,” she added.
Anyone can take part in the mosquitoWEB project via the platform’s website: simply photograph a mosquito, upload the image to the platform, provide information about where it was found and include contact details (mobile phone or email) for follow-up.
Among the recommendations for the public, IHMT NOVA highlighted the elimination of standing water and the use of repellent.
According to WHO data, more than 7.6 million cases of dengue have been reported to the organisation worldwide this year, including 3.4 million confirmed.
Although there has been a substantial increase in dengue cases globally over the last five years, this growth has been most pronounced in the Americas region, where the number of cases has already exceeded seven million by the end of April 2024, surpassing the 4.6 million of 2023.
Many of those infected with the virus that causes dengue can be asymptomatic, but the symptoms of the disease are fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, pain around or behind the eyes, vomiting, red patches on the skin and haemorrhages.
Source: LUSA
The post Disease-transmitting mosquitoes on the rise in Algarve and Lisbon appeared first on Portugal Resident written by Michael Bruxo
