Overview

• UKHSA-led surveillance found Aedes aegypti eggs at a Heathrow freight facility in September 2023 and Aedes albopictus at a Kent motorway service station in August 2024.
• Both findings prompted intensified local trapping and control, and no further specimens were detected, leading investigators to treat them as isolated incursions.
• The agency runs targeted traps at airports, seaports and motorway hubs, maintains sites on the Kent marshes, and gathers public reports through the Mosquito Recording Scheme.
• Researchers warn that warmer temperatures and milder winters raise the likelihood that invasive Aedes species could establish in parts of the UK over coming decades.
• Aedes albopictus is already established across southern and central Europe with a quickening spread in France, and UK teams reported West Nile virus fragments in local mosquitoes in May 2025.