Fumigation tasks in Almensilla (Seville), last Tuesday.
/ Europa Press
The massive fumigations proposed by the Junta de Andalucía to eliminate the mosquito that transmits the Nile fever virus are “ineffective and can have negative and undesirable consequences on biodiversity and even affect the quality of water in an ecosystem as sensitive as the Guadalquivir estuary and the surroundings of Doñana ”, warns the environmental organization WWF this Saturday in a statement.
The culex mosquito has caused an outbreak of viral meningoencephalitis that affects 14 towns in Seville, including the capital of the province, which has killed three people and currently affects 21, of which 11 are hospitalized and four of they remain in the ICU, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Health and Families.
Last Tuesday the Board announced that it will carry out drone fumigations of the Guadalquivir swamps and rice fields to prevent the spread of the mosquito, a plan for which it will tender an emergency contract of 100,000 euros.
“The massive fumigations in the marshes is a measure that does not fall within the logic or measure to face a disease that has been stable in the area since 2010, when the first cases were detected in equine farms in the provinces of Seville, Cádiz and Málaga and since 2016 the first cases in humans appeared, as stated in a report by the National Epidemiological Surveillance Network.
We know that the culex mosquito has an area of action of approximately one kilometer, so it would be enough to fumigate urban and peri-urban centers, ”said Juan José Carmona, spokesman for WWF in Doñana on Saturday.
WWF requires the Board, which despite having knowledge of the existence of the virus for a decade has not proposed a protocol of action until now, "maximum caution and scientific rigor" in the fight against the West Nile virus and that they count with the opinion of experts to develop the eradication plan.
So far, the affected municipalities, especially Coria del Río and La Puebla del Río, have asked the Board for a general plan to tackle the disease and have met with representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Diputación de Sevilla and the Hydrographic Confederation of the Guadalquivir.
The last meeting, of a technical nature, was last Wednesday.
"They have created a technical table and have not invited the Doñana Biological Station (EBD), where there is a team of experts who know better than anyone the marsh and everything related to the Nile virus disease," laments Carmona.
The Junta de Andalucía ignored the technical reports prepared in 2011 and 2014 by the EBD to stop the appearance of outbreaks of the Nile virus.
"Massive fumigation in natural areas would not solve the sanitary problem centered in the urban area, but would generate negative impacts on other species, ecosystems and the economic activities of the Lower Guadalquivir", the WWF spokesperson stated.
The environmental organization has asked the Board to participate in future meetings to be held to tackle the problem and that the team of experts led by Jordi Figuerola from the Doñana Biological Station also participate.
“We have gone from a situation where there was no type of control to wanting to fumigate everything and that is not necessary.
The first thing that should have been done is an entomological investigation and the use of larvicides, but for that it would have to have started in March, which would make it possible to kill the larvae, something that could be done next year.
Now it is too late because there is a population of adult mosquitoes and there is no choice but to use pesticides in urban environments to control the problem, but it makes no sense to spray natural spaces that are 20 kilometers from the outbreaks ”, Jordi Figuerola clarified, EBD zoonosis expert.
According to WWF, climate change is behind the arrival in Spain of diseases such as the West Nile virus, since the increase in temperatures plays a very important role in the spread of this pathogen, which travels hosted in migratory birds.
“We ask for maximum caution.
The risk is especially in urban areas.
Neither the rice paddies nor the marshlands are the problem, nor is there a plague of mosquitoes in these areas.
In fact, cases of zoonosis in equines have been registered in municipalities far from the rice fields of Doñana (such as Nerva, Gibraleón or San Bartolomé de la Torre) ”, added Juan José Carmona.