Since the beginning of the year, three times more cases of chikungunya have been detected in Spain than in 2025, and 25% have been identified in Catalonia. This has set off alarms about the tiger mosquito, from the group Aedes, the main transmitter of this virus and also of other arboviruses such as dengue and Zika. Although all cases detected in the Spanish state (119) are imported, experts warn that surveillance of the insect must be increased to prevent the virus from settling in the territory.

Catalonia has the right temperature, the type of mosquitoes, and the necessary flow of travelers for tropical diseases to become increasingly frequent, especially during the summer months. The climate crisis is advancing relentlessly, and every year thousands of people travel to areas where these pathologies circulate intensely, increasing the risk of autochthonous cases and for transmission to become endemic. Chikungunya disease is one of those infections that worries health authorities, and since the beginning of the year, 43 cases have already been detected throughout the State, seven times more than last year in the same period, when only 6 had been diagnosed. Of these, 28 are in Catalonia, all imported cases from countries where outbreaks are currently occurring.