The capital of the Slovak Republic Bratislava registers the occurrence of the invasive mosquito mosquito in the districts of Ružinov, Vrakuňa, Petržalka, Nové Mesto, Vajnory and Rača. He continues with his monitoring this year. Bratislava spokesman Peter Bubla told TASR.
Based on the analysis of the Biomedical Center of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, it found that this kind of mosquito can hibernate in the territory of Bratislava, reproduce and create local populations. According to Bubl, this was proven by comparing DNA caught individuals from 2023 and 2024.
“It is also likely based on DNA analysis that mosquitoes have been introduced by the transport of goods or persons and not by spreading from neighboring countries. Populations present in our territory are genetically most related to individuals captured in Russia, China and Japan, or with individuals from the USA, Italy, France, Moldova“he said.
According to Bubl, activity of this kind begins in about June, the peak reaches in the second half of July and persists until early October. He further explained that the mosquito tiger prefers small hatchery, such as bowls under flower pots, krle, buckets and other containers of water.
“Given the method of reproducing this kind, we will focus on distributing BTI tablets for owners of family houses and gardens, where there will also be an information campaign and distribution of larvicides directly into the sites with confirmed occurrence,” said Bubla. According to him, the most exposed sites will also be placed with carbon dioxide traps, which will reduce local populations throughout the season.
A tiger mosquito can transmit 22 different viruses including exotic dengue viruses, chikungunya, zika or yellow fever. In this context, Bubla points out that this species is only a potential carrier, but not a source of infection, so its occurrence does not automatically mean the spread of communicable diseases. “Based on information from the Regional Office of Public Health, we do not register cases of infectious diseases in the population that could be transferred by this kind of mosquito in our territory,” the spokesman added.
