ANTI INSECT ASSAULT HELICOPTERS

http://www.metro.co.uk/

Anti-insect assault helicopters are being used to wipe out swarms of killer mosquitoes heading towards Britain. The drastic and hugely expensive clearance is being carried out by environmentalists in the skies above northern France.

All are particular worried about Asian tiger mosquitoes, which can carry numerous deadly diseases.

Many are lurking in swampland close to the France-Belgium border – less than 100 miles from the south coast of England.

A recent combination of hot days followed by rain has created the kind of warm, damp conditions which the mosquitoes relish.

'The threat to public health across Europe is immense,' said a spokesman for the Nord (north) Department environment agency, which is coordinating the airborne assault.

'The choppers carry out their missions in selected zones, pouring insecticide over mosquito eggs and larvae.

'If we don't take such firm action then the problem will proliferate as far as Britain and beyond.'

The agency is concentrating its efforts on the Asian tigers, which have already transmitted chikungunya fever to scores of victims in northern Italy.

They have been detected in dozens of other European countries including Germany and France , with the UK almost certain to be targeted as the summer progresses.

Last year a report by the British Government's Health Protection Agency at Porton Down in Wiltshire warned that 'widespread establishment' of the Asia tiger was likely in warm, damp conditions.

'We have identified the potential for it to come here,' a spokesman said at the time.

To date there have been no confirmed reports of the mosquito in the UK.

If the Asian tiger does settle in Britain , experts fear it could start a locally-spread epidemic.

Because it lays its eggs in water, it is thought it could survive in French wetlands before making its way across the Channel.

One of the ways it spreads is in the small pools of water which collect in spare tyres which are often transported from the continent to Britain. The hundreds of thousands who cross the Channel day in, day out are also viewed as potential carriers of the yellow striped
menace.

Chikungunya victims usually develop a fever that lasts a couple of days and go on to suffer intense headaches, joint pains and insomnia for days or weeks after they are bitten.

While those bitten by the numerous species of mosquitoes coming from France are unlikely to develop serious diseases, itching and unpleasant rashes are a near certainty.