A species of mosquitoes capable of carrying deadly diseases has appeared in northern Italy. This follows from a study by scientists of the Milan State University, published in the international scientific journal Parasites & Vectors.
What kind of mosquitoes are we talking about?
Scientists have discovered the so-called “Korean” mosquitoes, which belong to the species Aedes koreicus. These blood-sucking insects live in East Asia, but in recent years they have been increasingly found in many regions of Europe. For the first time in the EU, “Korean” mosquitoes were detected in Belgium in 2008. In the future, their presence was confirmed in Slovenia, Germany, Hungary and Austria.
In Italy, these mosquitoes were first detected in the northeast of the country in 2011, but now they are spreading to the southwest of the country.
What research did Italian scientists do?
The study took place in 2020. Within its framework, experts collected about 6 thousand mosquito larvae in the area of Bergamo (Lombardy region). In the future, the hatched individuals of insects were divided by species. The classification was confirmed by morphological and genetic analyses. They showed that about 50 individuals belonged to the Aedes koreicus species.
Thus, scientists have confirmed the presence of “Korean” mosquitoes in the Bergamo area and their distribution in the north of the country. The discovery has caused experts to worry about whether these insects can become carriers of diseases in the alpine zone of Italy.
The authors of the study insist on the urgent need for coordinated efforts to monitor blood-sucking mosquitoes in Italy to prevent the spread of carriers of new pathogens.
Scientists also noted that the detection of mosquitoes in the Bergamo area at the end of summer suggests that this type of mosquito has adapted to new climatic and environmental conditions. In their opinion, the expansion of the areola habitat of Aedes koreicus is associated with the influence of global warming, as well as an increase in international trade and travel in Europe.
What are the dangers of “Korean” mosquitoes?
According to scientists, “Korean” mosquitoes are able to carry several pathogens at once. Among them are the dengue and chikungunya viruses (cause fevers of the same name), as well as the Zika virus and Japanese encephalitis, viruses that cause yellow fever and West Nile fever.
Are there any Korean mosquitoes in Russia?
Yes. These mosquitoes live in the east of Russia, and in recent years they have also begun to be noticed in the Krasnodar Territory and the Crimea.
“Unfortunately, these species already exist in the Crimea,” experts also found them in the territories closest to us,” said in June 2021 on the radio Sputnik in the Crimea, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of the Department of Ecology and Zoology of the KFU. Vernadsky Sergey Ivanov. However, he noted that such mosquitoes pose a danger only if they bite the vector of these diseases.
Sources:
https://parasitesandvectors .biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-021-05031-7
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7216222/
https://crimea.ria.ru/20210608/V-Krymu-poyavilis-dva-novykh-potentsialno-opasnykh-vida-komarov-1119659745.html
