(((I wonder how many climate skeptics will drop dead from mosquito-borne greenhouse diseases?)))
Published online: 6 September 2007; | doi:10.1038/news070903-15
Tiger mosquitoes bring tropical disease to Europe
Invasive species could cause Chikungunya to become endemic.
Emiliano Feresin
The arrival of a tropical mosquito-borne disease in Italy has experts worried that such illnesses may become endemic in Europe.
Local authorities in Bologna, Italy, this week ordered parts of the city to implement mosquito-control measures to prevent the spread of the flu-like viral disease, Chikungunya. The disease is carried by the tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) and is more usually found in African and Asian countries. (((That was then, this is now.)))
Chikungunya hit two villages, some 80 kilometres east of Bologna, this summer. Nearly 200 people are thought to have been infected and one has died of complications. The number of new cases is now decreasing, but suspected cases have started to appear in the city.
The tiger mosquito is a relative newcomer in Europe, which has spread to Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Balkan region over the past decades. It lives in urban areas and feeds mostly on human blood. The bites are painful, but, until now, have usually been harmless.
Experts fear that the recent spate of disease may allow Chikungunya to become endemic in this area — or, even worse, the more dangerous dengue virus that the tiger mosquito can also carry.
The Italian outbreak started in early July, but was at first mistaken for simple flu. Authorities now think that a tourist returning from India imported the Chikungunya virus to Italy, where it spread among the dense population of tiger mosquitoes. Chikungunya means 'that which bends up' in Makonde, a local language of Tanzania and Mozambique, describing the joint pain that accompanies the illness's high fever....
