This insect, in the opinion of zoologists, is even quite cute. It has an oblong body, long legs and sensitive antennae antennae, belongs to the diptera squad. Just "pretty", and it’s called a malarial mosquito. Why is his bite dangerous? We will talk about this later.
Another name for this insect is "anopheles." It is widespread, but the most dangerous species live in the southern regions. They carry not only malaria, but also yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, dengue fever.
Are the common and malarial mosquitoes alike? What is the last dangerous? Both species are blood-sucking, but only females drink blood, and males are quite harmless. The appearance is slightly different. Anopheles has dark spots on its wings and the top is lifted up when landing. Females lay eggs in stagnant waters, most often in wetlands. There, the larvae live, breathe through peculiar tubes, feed, passing water through themselves and filtering out small particles. When it comes time to hatch, the chrysalis rises to the surface and an adult insect flies out of it.
What is the danger of a malaria mosquito? Bites for animals and humans are quite painful, causing itching, redness and allergies. This is the case if the mosquito is not infected. If he is infected, the consequences can be very disastrous, since malaria
refers to diseases that have high mortality rates. It is caused by microorganisms called plasmodia. The bite of a malarial mosquito contributes to the fact that the causative agent of the disease enters the bloodstream. But plasmodia not only use Anopheles as a transport, they are an incubator for them. Therefore, the fight against malaria mosquitoes in many countries was and is ongoing at the state level.
Initially, they could not determine what role the malaria mosquito plays, what is the danger for humans. It was believed that the cause of the disease are poisonous swamp fumes. And only at the end of the XIX century, the French doctor Charles Laveran suggested that the simplest microorganism could be the causative agent of the infection. Parasitologist Patrick Manson thought about the fact that this "body" needs to somehow move from person to person. Ronald Ross found them in Anopheles. So, by global efforts to the twentieth century, they decided what malaria mosquito is, and what it is dangerous for humans.
But to identify was not enough, it was necessary to develop a strategy for the struggle. The most effective was the drainage of wetlands. This was done at the mouth of the Rhine. Now few people remember that there was a hotbed of dangerous infection. So they did in the forests of Abkhazia, where they planted eucalyptus trees that pumped water out of the marshes, launched small gambusia fish into the remaining ones, they are natural enemies of mosquitoes and feed on their larvae. But there are still enough places on Earth, completely undeveloped, where malaria thrives. This primarily applies to the central regions of Africa and South America, it is there that the most dangerous foci are now located. All tourists should remember that there is no vaccine for this disease, and you can be saved if you only start taking quinine on time.
