Asian Tiger mosquito sets its sights on Ireland's temperate climate

THE CELTIC Tiger may have departed but another striped beast from the Orient may be about to pester Ireland. Scientists fear that the Asian Tiger mosquito, which has spread across Europe, could, in fact, already be here.

The insect, with distinctive black-and-white stripes, has a reputation as a “particularly effective” disease carrier and, unlike other varieties of mosquito, likes to snack on human blood during the day as well as after dark. It is also “well-suited to our lovely temperate climate”.

Although most commonly associated with tropical countries, mosquitoes have been found at 136 locations in Ireland, from Belfast to Cork.

Now staff at the Waterford-based National Biodiversity Data Centre have developed the “first ever” database devoted to the subject and hope it will lead to further study and tracking of the pest.

Their research has revealed that 18 species of mosquito have been recorded in Ireland since records began in 1823.

Dr Eugenie Regan, who specialises in ecology and entomology, said the rarest variety recorded here was Culiseta alaskaensis – a snow mosquito most commonly found in Alaska and Siberia – which was found roaming in Co Kildare in 1939.

Some varieties of mosquito recorded in Ireland are capable of transmitting disease, including four members of the anopheles variety.

The biggest concern, however, is the spread of the Asian Tiger mosquito, a subtropical mosquito native to Asia, which can carry the viruses of up to 22 diseases, including dengue fever, West Nile disease, yellow fever and Chikungunya fever.

The Asian Tiger mosquito arrived in Europe in 1979, when it was spotted in Albania. Since then, it has spread north and west and reportedly reached Britain three years ago.

It was blamed for an outbreak of Chikungunya at Ravenna, in Italy, in 2007. The pest can tolerate snow and temperatures below freezing by hibernating during the winter.

Dr Regan said: “With our lovely temperate climate it could easily set up shop here” in Ireland and “may already be here”.

Mosquitoes were “on the increase and more prevalent in Europe, possibly due to climate change”, she said. The new Irish database would be “shared at a European level and aid the European Centre for Disease Control in its preparedness for vector-borne diseases”.

Mosquitoes’ predilection for biting human skin (to feed on blood) allows parasites to enter the host’s body.

It is estimated that mosquitoes transmit disease to more than 700 million people annually in Africa, Latin America and Asia, causing many deaths.

Dr Regan said there was one known occasion when native Irish mosquitoes spread malaria. The only outbreak was in Cork between 1854 and 1860, when almost 1,000 cases were recorded and appears to have been due to soldiers infected with the disease returning to Ireland from the Crimean War.

With increased foreign holidays, however, Dr Regan says the reintroduction of malaria and other diseases into Ireland is a real threat.