Surveillance of a Pest Through a Public Health Information System: The Case of the Blackfly (Simulium erythrocephalum) in Zaragoza (Spain) during 2009–2015

Abstract

Background: Animals and people in many Spanish regions are increasingly being affected by blackfly bites in the last decade. Because of blackflies, the city of Zaragoza has become in recent years a paradigm of discomfort in Europe, with thousands of citizens affected. The OMI-AP system (Stacks, Barcelona, Spain) implemented by the Government of Aragón, a software that manages the electronic medical history of all patients, has been evaluated in order to document the increase of insect bite recorded by the primary care consultations in Zaragoza after the first outbreak of blackflies occurred in 2011. Methods: An observational, ecological and longitudinal study of insect bites recorded at the primary care consultations was carried out in primary care during the period 2009–2015. Results: The incidence of medical consultations by insect bites in Basic Health Areas (BHA) near to rivers is higher than the furthest BHA. Rural BHA are more affected by insect bites than the urban ones. The increase of medical assistance due to insect bites in Zaragoza since 2011 is correlated with the blackflies bites. Conclusions: This tool was very useful to describe the initial stage of this public health problem. It could be used for guiding public health responses in terms of surveillance and management of this pest.

Risk of Attacks by Blackflies (Diptera: Simuliidae) and Occurrence of Severe Skin Symptoms in Bitten Patients along the Eastern Border of the European Union

“…Despite the climate changes observed in eastern Poland, the seasonal and daily rhythms of blackfly activity have not changed during the last 18-20 years (unpublished data). Similar rhythms of blackfly activity observed by analysis of reported cases of attacks on humans were also recorded in 2009-2015 in Zaragoza (Spain) [83]. However, as indicated by these researchers, the number of patients requiring medical care after blackfly bites has increased in the analyzed area.…”

An approach to telmophagous Nematocera (Ceratopogonidae, Psychodidae, and Simuliidae) of Spain, with emphasis on its medical and veterinary importance

“…However, no endemic simulid-borne human disease has been reported in the country to date. Therefore, the main concern of black flies is the annoyance caused by its bites to both humans [89] and livestock [90]. In fact, their painful bites can cause allergic reactions in sensitive animals (called 'simuliotoxicosis'), and are among the few blood-sucking arthropods that can kill animals by exsanguination during massive attacks [91].…”

“…Despite these reactions have not yet been published in Spain, similar episodes migh be occurring in sheep flocks in the region of Aragon (Ruiz-Arrondo, personal communication). Black flies have become very relevant pests in certain Spanish regions since the beginning of Pre-Publication Release of Accepted Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.31005/iajmh.v5i.249 [89,[92][93][94], although other regions have also reported problems associated to these insects during the last years. Medical attention towards simulid bites has been frequent over the last decade in these regions, particularly in the city of Zaragoza, where hundreds of people are attended due to the bites of black flies that are breeding in the Ebro river since passing through the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar [89].…”

Integrated taxonomy of black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) reveals unexpected diversity in the most arid ecosystem of Europe

“…Many studies are based on the preimaginal stages, in part because of the accessibility of breeding sites [21]. Studies of adult simuliids in Europe are limited despite interest in obtaining a complete picture of the avian blood-parasite community [22][23][24] and of the impact of simuliids on public health [21,25,26]. An additional bias in our knowledge, given that black flies are linked to flowing water, is that many studies have been conducted in favorable ecosystems such as wet mountainous areas [27][28][29].…”