Tiger mosquitos are spotted in eight Dutch provinces

Tiger mosquitos, which can spread diseases such as West Nile virus, dengue fever, and the Zika virus, have now been spotted in eight of the 12 Dutch provinces, according to product safety board NVWA.

The spread of the mosquito, first seen in the Netherlands in 2005, is monitored by the NVWA, which has recorded a total of 65 sightings so far this year.

Tiger mosquitos, which originally come from southeast Asia, have already made their home in southern European countries such as Spain and France. They were first brought to the Netherlands in car tyres and bamboo plants but are now hitching in cars and caravans which have been to the Mediterranean.

However, the chance that people here will get dengue fever, for example, is negligible, based on the current number of tiger mosquitos, the NVWA said earlier this year.

Public health institute RIVM says people who have spotted the tiger mosquito, which is smaller than a normal mosquito and has a distinctive white stripe on its back and hind legs, to get rid of anything that might be used as breeding places, such as containers with water in them.