I know what you’re thinking, Something that small can’t possibly be so dangerous… Although it seems like a bad movie on the science fiction channel, some authorizes argue that in feeding on blood, various species of mosquitoes transmit some of the most harmful human and livestock diseases and thusly that makes them rank on the most dangerous chart. Many diseases are spread from mosquitoes. The mosquito-borne diseases are the ones where mosquitoes are the transmitter, getting the disease from someone already infected and spreading it whenever that mosquito bites another person. Quite unfairly mosquitoes cannot catch these viruses themselves. Some familiar diseases spread by mosquitoes include:
- Yellow Fever
- Malaria
- Lymphatic Filariasis
- West Nile Virus – a number one concern in the human-mosquito-human transmitted diseases. Click the link to learn more about WNV.
HIV was once a public concern at first, but with studies of epidemiological patterns suggest that anhy transsmion of the HIV Virus by mosquitoes is extremely unlikely. Methods used to prevent the spread of disease, or to protect individuals in areas where disease is endemic, include:
- Vector control aimed at mosquito control or eradication
- Disease prevention, using drugs and developing vaccines
- Prevention of mosquito bites, with insecticides, nets and repellents
Since most such diseases are carried by “elderly” female mosquitoes, some scientists have suggested focusing on these to avoid the evolution of resistance Methods are used for mosquito control, depending on the situation, include:
- source reduction (e.g., removing stagnant water)
- biocontrol (e.g. importing natural predators such as dragonflies)
- trapping, and/or insecticides to kill larvae or adults
- exclusion (mosquito nets and window screening)
Methods for source reduction, not sufficient in themselves in all circumstances include:
- District and Domestic hygiene (removal and control of standing water in residential areas)
- Clean out garbage disposals and remove incidental containers (clean out your garage of useless objects that could hold water)
- Most of the dangerous species breed in ditches, flowerpots, and discarded containers.
If such sources are removed from residential areas, almost the only mosquitoes able to attack people are those that fly in or are blown in from where they have bred. Mosquitoes of most species are unlikely to travel more than a few hundred meters unless the wind is favorable.