Deadly Dengue and Chikungunya Disease Likely to Spread in UK - Study

Deadly Asian tiger mosquitoes are likely to spread Dengue and Chikungunya diseases across the UK, according to a new report.

The disease has already killed several people across Asia, Africa and South America.

Scientists from the University of Liverpool have discovered that Aedes albopictus, an Asian tiger mosquito is likely to invade the UK. They claim that the mosquito is moving towards the country due to global warming.

The team led by Dr Samantha Martin used climate models to know more about the Aedes albopictus distribution. They found that Aedes albopictus will migrate to several countries in central and Northern Europe, including the UK.

The study claims that parts of the UK could become hot-spots of Aedes albopictus activity between 2030 and 2050, according to the Press Association.

Asian tiger mosquito is about 1/4 inch long. It has black and white patterns all over its body. It lays its eggs in trees and old tires, which could be easily, transported any where across the world.

Scientists also claim that the mosquito has invaded Europe by this way. They also found that the weather also favour the mosquitoes in building its empire in the continent.

Earlier, the Asian tiger mosquitoes are found in tropical regions like Asia, Africa and South America but now it is also found in France, Belgium and Europe.

Dengue and Chikungunya diseases have very different symptoms.

Patients infected by the dengue get high fever, eye pain, severe headache, muscle, joint pains, nausea and skin rashes. Bleeding is also common in the cases of dengue haemorrhagic fever.The symptoms of Chikungunya include fever, chills, nausea, headaches and arthiritis (joint pain) in some of the cases. Unlike dengue there is no bleeding or shock reported in Chikungunya, according to Only Health website.