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National Laboratory for Health Security

Why the panic over the tiger mosquito?

West Nile fever virus has not yet been detected in tiger mosquitoes In Hungary and no areas are excluded from blood donation. The tiger mosquito is spreading in Hungary, and the West Nile fever virus is also present, but there is not necessarily a link between the two. The house mosquito which is native to Hungary, is the well-known domestic vector of the virus. This has been confirmed several times by genetic screening of captured specimens. However, no such infection has yet been detected in Hungarian tiger mosquito populations, so it is misleading to declare an epidemic threat from this invasive species.

Source:

24.hu

This research was supported by the National Talent Programme of Hungary and the Prime Minister's Office (NTP-NFTÖ-21-B-0288), and by the National Laboratory for Health Security (RRF-2.3.1-21-2022-00006), Centre for Ecological Research, Budapest, Hungary.