The Dangerous and Deadly Insect

By: Emma

The mosquito is the deadliest insect in the world. It kills around 725,000 people every year. But how? The mosquito carries a very wide variety of potentially deadly diseases. They carry some of the deadliest plagues in history. Which includes Malaria, worldwide mosquitoes infect about 250 million people with malaria, about 2 or 3 million people die from it.

Malaria is a serious disease which can cause yellow skin, fever, seizures, coma, and even death. They also infect people with the West Nile Virus. Which is most commonly spread through mosquito bites or animals. West Nile Virus can cause tremors, neck stiffness, paralysis, and a coma. They also infect Rift Valley Fever, which causes myalgia, back pain, dizziness, liver damage, and brain swelling.  Another disease they can spread is yellow fever, it’s transmitted by mosquitoes and affects the liver, kidneys, fever, and is often fatal. Another scary disease they infect people with is lymphatic filariasis, which causes abnormal enlargement in body parts, which causes pain and severe disability. And finally, they infect people with encephalitis, which causes inflammation in the brain. Not only that but mosquitos live on every continent. There are also about 3,000 species of mosquitoes in the world, at least 176 species are found in the U.S.

The most common and deadly mosquitoes are the Culex, Anopheles, and Aedes. The Culex mosquito lives from 10-14 days. They like to bite at dawn and dusk, the bite is itchy and can be painful. It’s known to contribute to the spread of the West Nile virus, filariasis, and encephalitis. Secondly the Anopheles, its lifespan is 1 to 3 weeks. It’s mostly found in ponds, swamps, rain pools, and ditches. And its known to spread malaria, filarial worms, and many others. Lastly the Aedes aegypti, they bite during the day and contributes to the spreading of zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever.

What you can do? Cover exposed skin when outside and spray clothing with EPA-registered insect repellents with at least 20% DEET. you can also do small things like making sure there aren’t water collecting places in your yard and drill holes in the bottom of your garbage cans.