A number of particularly serious infections are transmitted by mosquitoes and other insects. The risk of infection can be reduced by taking precautions to avoid insect bites in places where infection is likely to be present.
Below is a list of mosquitoes and their diseases, along with some additional information and links to different agencies and their information. This list is not "all inclusive", but contains an overview of some mosquitoes and the diseases they can transmit. The links are provided for informational purposes only. The agencies listed give no direct or implied endorsement of any of the Mosquito Control Trap products.
Mosquitoes and their Diseases
| Aedes
|
Transmitted
Diseases:
Dengue
fever
Rift
Valley fever
Yellow
fever |
| Aedes
mosquitoes are painful and persistent biters, attacking during daylight
hours (not at night). They do not enter dwellings, and they prefer
to bite mammals like humans. Aedes mosquitoes are strong fliers and
are known to fly many miles from their breeding sources. |
| Anopheles
|
Transmitted
Diseases:
Lymphatic
filariasis
Malaria |
| Anopheles mosquitoes are the only mosquito which transmits malaria to man. Anopheles quadrimaculatus is common in the eastern United States. A. freebonis is found west of the Rocky Mountains. The adult mosquitoes of both species are capable of transmitting malaria. They breed in ditches, ponds, swamps, and puddles. These mosquitoes are problems in areas where extensive irrigation of crops occurs. They enter structures to feed on humans, but, although aggressive, they are not painful biters |
| Culex
|
Transmitted
Diseases:
St.
Louis encephalitis
Japanese
encephalitis
Lymphatic
filariasis
West
Nile Virus
|
| Culex
mosquitoes are painful and persistent biters also, but prefer to attack
at dusk and after dark, and readily enter dwellings for blood meals.
Domestic and wild birds are preferred over man, cows, and horses.
Culex tarsalis is known to transmit encephalitis (sleeping sickness)
to man and horses. Culex are generally weak fliers and do not move
far from home, although they have been known to fly up to two miles.
Culex usually live only a few weeks during the warm summer months.
Those females which emerge in late summer search for sheltered areas
where they "hibernate" until spring. Warm weather brings
her out in search of water on which to lay her eggs. |
Only
female mosquitoes bite animals and drink blood. |
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