Educate Yourself

ABOUT MOSQUITO-BORNE DISEASES

Mosquitoes can be an annoying, serious problem in man's domain. Mosquitoes cause more human suffering than any other organism.  In their book Mosquito, Andrew Spielman, the late mosquito expert at Harvard University's School of Public Health, and Michael D'Antonio, a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, wrote that mosquitoes serve no useful purpose in the ecosystem other than to perpetuate their species. Unfortunately, in the course of reproducing, mosquitoes kill millions of people each year by transmitting some of the most deadly diseases on Earth. Not only can mosquitoes carry diseases that afflict humans, they also transmit diseases and parasites that dogs and horses are very susceptible to. Their attacks on farm animals can cause loss of weight and decreased milk production.

Certain mosquitoes are capable of transmitting diseases such as Malaria, West Nile Virus, Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever, Eastern Equine Encephalitis and Dog Heartworm. Different mosquito species transmit different diseases. For example, only the genus Anopheles transmits the malaria parasite. This particular sub-species of mosquitoes exists everywhere on the planet, except Antarctica. Malaria was once endemic in the United States but because of economic development and more stringent mosquito-control measures, malaria is not a serious threat in the United States.

Mosquitoes of the genus Aedes can transmit yellow fever and dengue. Yellow fever is a zoonotic disease specific to Africa and South America that can infect monkeys, making eradication impossible. Fortunately, a vaccine exists. However, the vaccine can cause serious illness in a small fraction of individuals. There is no vaccine for Dengue, which can cause hemorrhaging, shock, and death. Dengue's average death rate is about 5 percent, which is actually 3 percent higher than the 1918 flu pandemic.

West Nile Virus originally appeared in the Western Hemisphere in 1999 in New York City. The virus was first isolated in Uganda in 1937 and was typically found in Africa, the Middle East, West Asia, and Europe. No one knows how the virus crossed the Atlantic. But once in New York City, it exploded across the United States. Unfortunately, the mosquito that transmits West Nile virus is Culex pipiens, which is a common mosquito in urban and suburban settings. It prefers to feed on birds, which is why birds died before the first humans became infected. West Nile Virus is now endemic in the United States and appears to be heading to the Caribbean and South America.

Rigorous mosquito surveillance and control is crucial to preventing these mosquitoes from spreading throughout the world. Elected officials must not limit their mosquito-control programs, especially if the programs have been successful in preventing widespread outbreaks. To develop effective control measures, it's important to understand the mosquito life cycle and behavior. Eliminating breeding sites (still, brackish water) and stocking ponds with fish that eat mosquito larvae help keep mosquito burdens down; effective larvicides and pesticides are another option.

In the dog days of summer, the last thing anyone wants is to be bitten by a potentially deadly mosquito.