As France prepares to host the Olympic Games, an unwelcome visitor has crashed the party, reports The Times.
Tiger mosquitoes carrying dengue fever are sweeping into the country, with public health officials warning that the “unprecedented situation” is expected to worsen as tourists pour into France this summer.
Cases have jumped by a factor of 13 in the first four months of the year compared with the same period last year, with more than 2,000 reports by the end of April, an all-time high. The virus was first detected in mainland France in 2004 and has been slowly spreading across the country over the past two decades.
Today it is present in 80 per cent of areas, including in Paris and the wider Île-de-France region.
Several factors are to blame for the sudden increase, including rising temperatures and an epidemic across Latin America, the Caribbean and parts of Africa.