Night of confinement for the inhabitants of Caillaux, Philibert Lucot and Vistula streets (Paris, 13th arrondissement), this Wednesday August 30. No worrying Covid rebound, no. “Just” an operation against the tiger mosquito. A first in the capital.
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Between 12:30 a.m. and 2:30 a.m., technicians on foot and in a vehicle – their faces masked, their bodies protected by a waterproof suit – sprayed insecticide products on bushes, groves, foliage, sidewalks, etc. resting places for these stinging creatures.
The scope chosen? 150 m around the home of an individual, carrying the dengue virus after a stay outside France. This area of intervention of Diptera hunters was not determined by chance. The tiger mosquito does not fly beyond 150 m.
The cordoned off neighborhood
“We warned the local residents upstream”, explains the Ile-de-France Health Agency (ARS). The latter were asked to close their windows, bring in their outdoor plants and their pets. The police also banned traffic in the neighborhood during the operation and an hour later.
“With this intervention, our objective is not to eliminate all traces of the tiger mosquito, but to reduce the risk of spreading dengue”, continues the ARS. A disease most often without gravity, but complications can occur.
Yesterday’s operation was the seventh of the summer in Ile-de-France. A new one is scheduled for Thursday August 31 in Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine). In July and August, two other campaigns of this nature were organized in Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin). To date, the tiger mosquito is active in seventy French departments.