Tiger mosquitoes are advancing in Flanders: the Healthcare Department calls on them to be reported and breeding sites removed

Jet black with white stripes on the body and legs and barely half a centimeter in size: this is what the tiger mosquito looks like. Small, but a very aggressive biter. Unlike the well-known native mosquitoes, tiger mosquitoes are active during the day. Many people have a stronger or allergic reaction to tiger mosquito bites.

The mosquitoes can also transmit a number of tropical diseases, such as dengue and chikungunya. Every year, several hundred travelers return home with such diseases. If a tiger mosquito bites a sick person, the mosquito can transmit the disease to another healthy person during its next blood meal. Fortunately, the chance of transmission in Belgium is currently still very small.

Tiger mosquitoes can transmit a number of tropical diseases, such as dengue and chikungunya

To take a picture

In any case, it is important to combat the mosquito and thus limit hibernation and the number of mosquitoes. The Department of Care emphasizes that everyone can contribute to this. The agency first asks you to report tiger mosquitoes by taking a photo and reporting the case on the Mosquito Surveillance website or app. Furthermore, it is best to remove breeding grounds. Tiger mosquitoes breed in water. So now give all pots, bowls, rain barrel and gutter a good scrubbing. The tiger mosquito hibernates as an egg on the walls just above the water surface.

(Read more below the photo)

In addition, make it a habit to change the water in plant bowls, pots, buckets or watering cans weekly. Pour that water onto your lawn and not down the drain. Tiger mosquito larvae survive in sewage water but die without water. You can also cover rain barrels with mosquito netting.

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Mosquito eaters

You can also combat tiger mosquitoes by providing mosquito eaters in your garden: frogs, salamanders, water beetles, swifts, bats, dragonflies, wasps and damselflies eat (tiger) mosquitoes. Avoid poisons such as the use of pesticides in the garden that will scare away these mosquito eaters. Also, don’t give the tiger mosquito a ride. Tiger mosquitoes are active hunters, they follow people into their cars. That’s how they come here, even from the south of France.

You can combat tiger mosquitoes by providing mosquito-eaters in your garden: frogs, salamanders, water beetles, bats, dragonflies…

“It is impossible to keep the tiger mosquito completely out in Flanders, but we can delay its arrival and spread as much as possible with proper monitoring, control and prevention such as removing breeding grounds,” said Valerie Weekers, spokesperson for the Department of Care. “In municipalities with small populations, we can still limit the numbers by carrying out all preventive actions properly and on time. And for the water that cannot be removed, a biological agent that kills larvae can be used where necessary.”

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