Dengue fever and mosquito-borne diseases on the rise in Europe: EU agency June 12, 2024

Close-up of the dengue mosquito by Pexels

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Dengue fever and mosquito-borne diseases on the rise in Europe: EU agency

Cases of dengue fever and other mosquito-borne diseases are rising significantly in Europe as climate change creates warmer conditions that help invading mosquitoes spread, the European Union's health agency warned on Tuesday.

In 2023, 130 cases of locally acquired dengue were recorded in the region comprising the European Union (EU) plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway (EEA), compared to 71 in 2022.

This was a “significant increase” compared to the period 2010-2021, when the figure for the whole period was 73, the Stockholm-based European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said.

Imported cases have also increased, with 1,572 cases in 2022 and 4,900 in 2023, “the highest number” since EU monitoring began in 2008.

“Europe is already seeing how climate change is creating more favorable conditions for invasive mosquitoes to spread into previously unaffected areas and infect more people with diseases like dengue,” said ECDC director Andrea Ammon.

“What we can see is that there is a connection between a higher summer temperature, a milder winter, and the spread of mosquitoes into areas where they are not currently present,” Ammon said at a press conference.

About the West Nile virus, there were 713 locally acquired cases in 123 different regions in nine EU countries in 2023, and 67 deaths.

Although the number of cases decreased from the 1,133 recorded in 2022, the number of regions affected was the highest since 2018.

The mosquito responsible for spreading the West Nile virus, Culex pipiens, is native to Europe and is present throughout the EU/EEA, the ECDC said.

The Aedes albopictus mosquito, known for transmitting the dengue, chikungunya, and Zika viruses, “is spreading further into northern, eastern and western Europe, and now has self-sustaining populations in 13 EU/EEA countries,” the ECDC said.

The Aedes aegypti species, which is responsible for spreading yellow fever, dengue, chikungunya, and Zika, has recently established itself in Cyprus and several of the EU's outermost regions, such as Madeira and the French Caribbean islands, it said.

“It is widely predicted that climate change will have a major impact on the spread of mosquito-borne diseases in Europe, for example through the creation of favorable environmental conditions for the establishment and growth of mosquito populations,” ECDC said.

The agency said that the establishment of coordinated measures such as insecticide nets and indoor residual spraying was crucial to combat mosquito-borne diseases, as well as simple measures such as removing stagnant water from balconies and gardens and personal protection efforts to reduce the risk of mosquito bites.

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