When imagining the deadliest animal in the world, the faces that usually come to mind are that of a tiger, a snake, or maybe a shark. However, the most dangerous animal in the world does not have the claws of a tiger, the venom of a snake, or the teeth of a shark. This animal is measured in millimeters, produces hundreds of offspring from a single mother, and feeds off human blood. It is the mosquito. The most common species is culex pipiens, but there are others such as aedes aegypti, aedes vexans, and anopheles gambiae. Mosquitoes represent one of the most successful species on earth. This is attributed to their ability to thrive in the current conditions of exponential human population growth. Female mosquitoes feed on human blood and can
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As a result of their thirst for blood, mosquitoes are an extremely effective transmitter of disease. They have been most known for carrying viral diseases such as Zika, Malaria, Dengue, and Chikungunya. The Zika virus can lead to birth defects such as microcephaly which causes an underdeveloped head and brain in unborn babies. All of these diseases decrease quality of life and can cause death, especially for children who have weak immune systems. Diseases have spread more rapidly than ever as a result of the strengthening of the mosquito population. It took three hundred years for malaria to spread enough to become a global epidemic, but the Zika virus took only sixteen years to break out. Historical diseases do not spread as rapidly as modern ones and this can be attributed to the development of global travel, specifically, air travel. Now, a disease from Africa can be transmitted to America within the time of a single plane ride. In areas such as Brazil, 2653 babies have been born with microcephaly and the disease is making its way into the United States with now over one thousand women infected with the Zika virus. Florida faces a particularly high threat from Zika because it has optimal living conditions for mosquitoes in the form of a wet and hot climate. When posed with a threat, it is logical to look for a …show more content…
While pesticides are effective in killing mosquitoes, they also disrupt other parts of the ecosystem. One example of this is that pesticides also kill major pollinators such as honeybees and butterflies. Also, the non-consistent use of pesticides allows mosquitoes to develop a defense against them. The species evolve to become more resilient. Another defense, bed nets, has decreased the number of cases of malaria by 37% since 2000. The bed nets are treated with pesticides and draped around a person’s bed at night so that mosquitoes are trapped and killed before they can bite the person in their sleep. The third defense method targets a specific species, Aedes Aegypti, which is a carrier of many diseases including malaria. An organization named Oxitec genetically modified male mosquitoes so that they contained a gene that would kill their offspring. This method had decreased 82% of the aedes aegypti specimens tested in the trial. While these solutions are producing levels of success in defending against dangerous mosquito populations, experts agree that countries need to work together in order to manage this
As a result of their thirst for blood, mosquitoes are an extremely effective transmitter of disease. They have been most known for carrying viral diseases such as Zika, Malaria, Dengue, and Chikungunya. The Zika virus can lead to birth defects such as microcephaly which causes an underdeveloped head and brain in unborn babies. All of these diseases decrease quality of life and can cause death, especially for children who have weak immune systems. Diseases have spread more rapidly than ever as a result of the strengthening of the mosquito population. It took three hundred years for malaria to spread enough to become a global epidemic, but the Zika virus took only sixteen years to break out. Historical diseases do not spread as rapidly as modern ones and this can be attributed to the development of global travel, specifically, air travel. Now, a disease from Africa can be transmitted to America within the time of a single plane ride. In areas such as Brazil, 2653 babies have been born with microcephaly and the disease is making its way into the United States with now over one thousand women infected with the Zika virus. Florida faces a particularly high threat from Zika because it has optimal living conditions for mosquitoes in the form of a wet and hot climate. When posed with a threat, it is logical to look for a …show more content…
While pesticides are effective in killing mosquitoes, they also disrupt other parts of the ecosystem. One example of this is that pesticides also kill major pollinators such as honeybees and butterflies. Also, the non-consistent use of pesticides allows mosquitoes to develop a defense against them. The species evolve to become more resilient. Another defense, bed nets, has decreased the number of cases of malaria by 37% since 2000. The bed nets are treated with pesticides and draped around a person’s bed at night so that mosquitoes are trapped and killed before they can bite the person in their sleep. The third defense method targets a specific species, Aedes Aegypti, which is a carrier of many diseases including malaria. An organization named Oxitec genetically modified male mosquitoes so that they contained a gene that would kill their offspring. This method had decreased 82% of the aedes aegypti specimens tested in the trial. While these solutions are producing levels of success in defending against dangerous mosquito populations, experts agree that countries need to work together in order to manage this