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73-476 AMERICAN ECONOMIC HISTORY: Mosquitoes

Common name for about 3000 species of two-winged insects consituting the family Culicidae of the order Diptera. They are found from the Tropics to the Artic and Antartic circles in nearly every part of the Globe. The mosquito is naturally herbivorous but the female of several species acquires a taste for blood, and preys upon animals and man. The salivary fluid of the insect contains a variety of chemical agents including anticoagulants to prevent blood clotting, immunosuppressants to keep swelling down in the victim, and vasodilators to open up the blood vessels. The itching many people feel is an allergic reaction to the saliva. Mosquitoes are known to be attracted by carbon dioxide and body heat and also may be attracted by lactic acid and other body chemicals.

About 400 species of mosquitoes can spread disease to humans. In particular, several bacterial and parasitic diseases are spread by mosquitoes including malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever, encephalitis, and filariasis worm.

According to the World Health Organization at least 700 million people each year are infected with disease by mosquitoes and that approximately 1 in 17 people currently living will be killed by mosquito borne disease.

Their usual breeding grounds are swamps and stagnant water.