Residents of the Baugerie district, in Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, may have seen agents equipped with white overalls and masks pass by last night. Between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m., a mosquito control operation took place in this town located near Nantes, over an area of approximately 150 meters in radius.
An insecticide treatment carried out at the request of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) “following the stay of a person carrying a virus (chikungunya, dengue or Zika) transmissible by the tiger mosquito whose presence was confirmed in Loire-Atlantique and in particular in the town of Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire,” explains the town hall, which specifies that it is a case of dengue fever.
A first in Pays-de-la-Loire
A preventive treatment, described as “exceptional” which has however already taken place in a few cities in France (but never in Pays-de-la-Loire) in recent times. Its objective is to reduce the risk of transmission. At the end of August, a case of dengue fever was confirmed in Strasbourg, leading to a similar mosquito control operation.
Many residents of the Nantes metropolitan area are complaining of an exceptional presence of mosquitoes, particularly tiger mosquitoes, this summer. In some primary schools, parents are even invited by the educational team to protect their children with mosquito repellent in order to reduce bites during school time.