French President Emmanuel Macron is facing yet another issue as pests are plaguing France.
Tiger mosquitoes carrying dengue fever have created an “unprecedented situation” in the country.
More than 2,000 cases of the dangerous virus have been recorded in France during the first four months of this year alone, 13 times as many as in the same period last year.
And as the country’s capital is soon to host millions of people attending this summer the Olympic and Paralympic Games, experts warned the crisis could worsen.
Yannick Simonin, a virology professor at Montpellier University, told The Times: “All the elements are in place for a record year for dengue fever.”
Anna-Bella Failloux, an entomologist at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, told French newspaper Le Parisien that she and her colleagues are “all a bit panicked, with the Olympics coming”.
Around 68 million people live in France, and more than 15 million visitors are expected during the Games.
In order to quash the proliferation of tiger mosquitoes, residents in some regions have been encouraged not to leave stagnant water in which the insects can breed. Mosquito traps have also been installed in town squares.
Dengue fever was first detected in mainland France in 2004. It has since slowly spread, to the point it is now present in 80 percent of the nation’s territory – including Paris, where the Olympics and Paralympics events will take place.
People can be infected by this virus through the bite of a tiger mosquito carrying dengue fever.
The NHS noted dengue doesn’t always present symptoms, but asymptomatic people can still pass on the virus.
Among the most common dengue fever symptoms are a high temperature, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain, feeling or being sick, swollen glands and a blotchy rash made up of flat or slightly raised spots, which can affect large areas of the body.
People can also develop a more severe form of dengue fever, which can cause severe tummy pain, bleeding gum or nose, extreme fatigue and fast breathing among other concerning symptoms. Severe cases of this virus can be fatal.