«Subway mosquito» – Now «Subway mosquito» in Norway

Frida Wulff Gomperud (10) thought she knew what it was like to get a mosquito bite. But that was before she was stabbed last summer by the so-called “subway mosquito”

– She was probably stabbed at night when she was sleeping. It received several stings that eventually turned into boils and then into a large crater, Father Axel Wulff Sæther tells Dagbladet.

She had an infection, and when the black lines started coming out of one, they looked for a doctor, writes NRK Viken, who first mentioned the case.

Big stab wounds

“He received blood poisoning and received a penicillin cure that lasted more than ten days,” he says.

– How did she react?

– She thought it was disgusting, it sounded really bad.

Frida generally responds a lot to puns, but these were significantly larger than the ones she has received before. He scratched intensely for a few days and also had some fever.

– They were the size of those that were sinking in Europe. We have received similar abroad before, when we have been on vacation in Turkey and Croatia.

Several in the neighborhood where Frida and the family live in Åskollen in Drammen were also stabbed. According to Axel Wulff Sæther, the Facebook page of the housing team was discussed and stated that they had been stabbed by the so-called “subway mosquito”.

According to NRK, several unusually large bites that have often turned into boils. Several have become ill and have been given antibiotics to cure the infection.

One of the residents sent mosquitoes to the Norwegian Institute for Natural Research (NINA), which retested several Drammen mosquitoes. They have stated that the mosquitoes that have bitten residents are called “subway mosquitoes.”

Established in Norway

NINA confirms to Dagbladet that they are working on the “Norbite” project that will map all mosquito species in Norway.

– We started this project two years ago. Mosquitoes in Norway have not been mapped in almost 70 years. Now we can retest mosquitoes and hope to find some new species, says NINA biologist Sondre Dahle.

Therefore, since the “subway mosquito” is now being re-tested for the first time, it can be confirmed with certainty that it thrives here in the country.

– The cases in Drammen were tested by DNA and then we discovered that they were bitten by the “subway mosquito”. Mosquitoes have not been recorded in Drammen before. We wonder if it is expanding and if it exists in several places in Norway, says Dahle.

Long useful life

Already during World War II, the mosquito was the “London underground mosquito”, known in the metropolis, because it “attacked” people who remained in bomb rooms and other underground shelters.

Sondre Dahle at NINA says that mosquitoes have thrived on the Oslo metro network for a long time, and that it has been particularly troublesome for ticket sellers. It is also found in Kristiansand.

The “subway mosquito” grows in the drainage and drainage system and can spread with humans. The mosquito can live its entire life underground, unlike the normal mosquito that generally dies in winter. Allowing you to be disturbed at other times of the year.

Dahle claims they have no indication that the “subway mosquito” is more dangerous than the normal mosquito.

– It is known that different species of mosquitoes have different substances in their saliva. It’s common for people to react more strongly to mosquito bites abroad because they haven’t been exactly stabbed by that guy before.