Yahoo News Tartan Army fans on high alert for mosquito attacks at Euros 2024
The Tartan Army have been placed on alert for night-time attacks at the Euros – from mosquitoes.
There are 200,000 footsoldiers heading for Germany next month but they may prove no match for the 50 species of mozzie known to inhabit the country.
They enjoy exotic names such as the Asian tiger mosquito, Asian bush mosquito and Korean bush mosquito.
They will be lying in wait at the Olympic Park in Munich, where fans without tickets will gather to see the opening Group A match against hosts Germany.
The game kicks off on June 14 at 9pm local time, just as darkness falls on the 750-acre Fan Park with 5000 trees and a lake.
Dr Alison Blackwell is a director of APS Biocontrol Ltd, the Dundee firm behind what’s claimed to be the UK’s No1 insect repellent, Smidge.
She said: “Kick-off time in Munich represents the perfect conditions for irritating mosquito bites.
“Scots fans wearing kilts will be particularly vulnerable as advice for avoiding bites is to wear long-sleeved shirts and trousers. They will certainly have to apply insect repellent to, ahem, any exposed areas of skin.”
Hamish Husband, spokesman for the West of Scotland Tartan Army, said fans should take the warnings seriously. He added: “It’s not the first liquid our supporters will be thinking about in Munich on match day but repellent could prevent a nasty itch the next morning.
“That’s a time for concentrating on the hangover.”
Germany is home to 50 of the 3600 species of mosquito.
Dr Blackwell said they are far more “sophisticated” than the Scottish midge.
She said: “They break the skin like a hypodermic syringe and suck up the blood. It’s not usually until the next day that you know you’ve been bitten.”
A recent scientific study found Scotland is now home to 16 types of mosquito, including the culex pipiens, from South America.
Heather Ferguson, professor of infectious disease ecology at the University of Glasgow, who has been leading the Mosquito Scotland research, said: “Mosquitoes are widespread and
abundant in parts of Germany, especially along the River Rhine.
“A small number of mosquito-borne disease cases have been reported in Germany, mainly West Nile Virus, but these are extremely rare and generally the chance of picking up an infection from a mosquito is extremely low.”
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