According to the World Health Organisation, mosquito bites result in more than a million deaths worldwide, largely due to Malaria, it has been over a hundred years since this discovery of mosquitoes causing malaria and yet the disease is still largely prevalent, especially in developing countries.

They are the leading vectors for a large number of diseases, namely:

The female anopheles mosquito is known to cause protozoal disease Malaria.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito causes

The culex mosquito causes

Out of theseandare prominent in India and South East Asia and are clinically relevant.

The life cycle of the mosquito happens in 4 stages, namely

The first three stages occur in water and the adult stage exists on land. Thus, water is a famous breeding ground for mosquitoes.

A. ANTI LARVAL MEASURES

B. ANTI ADULT MEASURES

Use of Insecticides such as:

Q) Why do mosquitoes bite?

A) Mosquitoes require the human body to reproduce and complete their life cycle; they replicate in the red blood cells and liver cells.

Q) Why do mosquitoes bite me more than others?

A) The hotter you are, the more mosquitoes you attract , the body heat generated as an inherent property of being a warm-blooded creature attracts mosquitoes, therefore in conditions where your body temperature is higher, like in pregnancy, fever, post-exercise, etc, the more likely you are to be bitten by mosquitoes! In addition, mosquitoes also detect the carbon dioxide exhaled along with the chemicals in your sweat. Basically, it’s not easy to avoid them.

Q) What happens when mosquitoes bite?

A) Only the Female Anopheles bite humans. Upon biting, it deposits its sporozoites, which is the infective form, along with its saliva in your blood. The body recognized the saliva as a foreign substance and produces a chemical to fight against it thus causing the red swelling.

Q) Does your blood group matter?

A) Yes, research has shown that mosquitoes are more attracted to the blood group O , which is the most common blood group, followed by the blood group A .