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  • Writer's pictureDavid Thompson

The Mosquito....


Mosquitos

The mosquito becomes infected with the dengue virus when it bites someone with dengue in his or her blood. In other cases, like yellow fever and dengue, the virus gets into the mosquito as it feeds on the infected human, and is transmitted through the mosquitos saliva to the next victim. Dengue is transmitted to humans through the bite of a dengue-infected Aedes aegypti mosquito. Entomologists check a number of samples from insects to find out about the virus.

Infected mosquitoes transmit a variety of diseases-causing viruses and parasites between people, but do not themselves display symptoms. In the case of malaria, the parasites latch onto a female mosquitos intestines and infiltrate a host while it is feeding. Typically, male and female mosquitoes both feed on nectar, the aphids honeydew, and plant juices, but in many species, females have adapted their mouthparts to puncture animal hosts skins and suck out their blood as ectoparasites. As everybody knows, mosquitoes (at least females) also have mouthparts that are long and needle-like, and are capable of puncturing the skin and sucking the blood.

Because mosquitoes puncture your skin with their needle-like mouths, and they leave a bit of their saliva on your body when they bite you, they also leave behind some pretty bad diseases. The diseases that these mosquitoes can carry are some pretty severe ones, such as encephalitis and malaria in humans, and heartworms in dogs. While they may be an inconvenience while enjoying outdoor activities, mosquitoes also can spread a number of diseases that adversely affect humans, including West Nile virus, chikungunya, and Zika. In summary, mosquitoes are major vectors for diseases like malaria, yellow fever, Chikungunya, West Nile, dengue fever, filariasis, Zika, and other arboviruses.

The most effective way of preventing diseases carried by mosquitoes is preventing mosquitoes from biting. The probability of transmitting diseases can be reduced through use of mosquito repellent, long clothes covering arms and legs, screens on doors and windows, and insecticide-treated bednets for mosquitoes. As detailed earlier, the prevention of dengue relies largely on keeping the mosquitoes that spread dengue, Aedes aegypti, from breeding within and around homes. Because the mosquito does not travel very far, the housecleaning of everyone in a community would ensure there are no breeding sites, thus preventing the outbreak of dengue. Mosquito Movers can help with Mosquito Control. Just give us a call at 501-993-2235 or visit our website and fill out a form for a FREE quote on your yard.

The best prevention for residents living in areas contaminated by Aedes aegypti is to remove places where a female mosquito will lay its eggs, especially man-made containers holding water. The female mosquito will lay its eggs in containers of water inside and outside homes, as well as in other structures. Although the mosquito larvae and pupae respire through syphon-like devices, the pupal stage does not eat. When the female produces without these parasitic meals, she is said to practice autogenous reproduction, as is the case with the toxorhynchites; if she does not, reproduction can be termed anautogenous, as is the case with mosquito species which act as disease vectors, notably Aedes, and with some of the more prominent genus Aedes vectors.

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