Monday, October 27, 2014

Malaria & Mosquitoes

Many insects are vectors of disease. Perhaps the most infamous of the insects associated with disease are flies in the family Culicidae or more commonly known as mosquitoes.  Mosquitoes vector a wide assortment of disease causing protozoans, viruses, and bacteria.  Malaria is perhaps the most deadly vectored disease from mosquitoes.  The chart below from the CDC (2012) provides a quick overview of how the Plasmodium completes its life cycle in humans and mosquitoes in the genus Anopheles.

Mosquitoes are crucial for the pathogens transmittance to new host as the mosquito releases new "spores" to hosts when they take a blood meal.  The CDC website also provides a more detailed overview of the infection stages and can be found in the works cited page.  Malaria is a serious problem in my countries and deserves more public attention in the United States.

Works Cited:  

Malaria: Biology. (2012, November 9). Retrieved October 27, 2014, from http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/biology/


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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 2, 2014 at 8:47 AM

    Malaria is overlooked for the most part in the United States; however, it is so easy to catch because mosquitos are so abundant.

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  2. AnonymousNovember 4, 2014 at 6:46 AM

    As abundant as mosquitoes are, there still seems to be an environmental effect on the transportation of these viruses, and different pathogens. Considering, the United States seems to have the smallest problem with this because a first world country the U.S. is more clean. Therefore i believe that environmental factors contribute far more to the transportation by mosquitoes than mentioned.

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