Tropical Mosquito Found In South Korea For The First Time

JAKARTA - For the first time, researchers discovered a tropical mosquito species on the Korean Peninsula. This species is known as the Cualx quinquefasciatus or commonly known as the "southern house mosquito". The mosquito was discovered on Jeju Island, South Korea's southernmost island.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) explained on November 3 that the mosquito samples collected in August on Jeju Island turned out to be one of these species. Usually the Culux quinquefasciatus mosquito lives in a tropical and subtropic climate region, not in cool areas like South Korea.

This mosquito is actually still a group with public house mosquitoes that have been widely found in Korea, Asia, Europe, and Africa. But what distinguishes it, this species prefers to live in warmer areas. Interestingly, although it was mentioned in a 1956 study as one of the species in Korea, this is the first time its existence has been confirmed.

KDCA said the mosquito was found in several different locations in Jeju. This shows that the mosquito appears to have been able to survive and breed there. This discovery was made in order to monitor the spread of disease.

It's not clear how this mosquito got here, but it looks like the environment in South Korea is now suitable for this species. In the next monitoring season, we will check whether this species has also spread to other areas besides Jeju," KDCA officials said.

Climate change is thought to be one of the main factors. According to a report by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment in 2023, the average Korean temperature rose by about 1.6 degC from 1912 to 2020. This increase was faster than the global average of about 1.09 degC in the same period.

Mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus is known to be a carrier of several infectious diseases in humans, including the West Nile virus. But so far the virus has been carried by other types of mosquitoes in Korea and there have never been cases of West Nile infection in the country.

KDCA emphasized that the existence of this new species does not automatically increase the risk of disease spread.

"This means we only have one additional vector to monitor." said the KDCA.