Removing all sources of stagnant water will help reduce Asian tiger mosquito eggs and larvae active in winter, according to advice from the Health Department.

“It is important to continue eliminating the eggs and larvae in winter as they will change into adult mosquitoes by summer. The more we can eliminate these now, the fewer mosquitos we will have next summer,” Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Unit head Tanya Melillo said.

The mosquito goes through different morphological stages, starting as an egg, then larva, pupa and, finally, the adult mosquito stage. The adults normally emerge between May and September in the northern hemisphere, explaining their presence this summer. Now, with the change in temperature, the adult mosquito will no longer be seen during winter and just the eggs will be present.

Roof tanks should be covered and pools should either be given regular chlorine or else the water removed or covered, the Health Department advised. Putting a layer of oil on the surface if the stagnant water could be emptied also helped as did goldfish in ponds because they ate the eggs, it said.

The Asian tiger mosquito, which migrated from southeast Asia through the transport of goods and international travel, has been the culprit behind the increased incidence of people going to the doctors with nasty mosquito bites this summer. The bites, which swell up and last for about a week, cause extreme itching and may lead to infection and, in turn, antibiotic treatment.

The mosquito, Aedes Albopictus, is also known to be a carrier of potentially fatal diseases, like dengue fever and the West Nile virus.

However, the department has not been notified of any cases requiring hospitalisation after acquiring an infectious disease from a mosquito bite.

Moreover, the diseases the insect would normally transmit from person to person were not present in Malta and, therefore, the risk to public health was very small.

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