Skin Prostate Colon/rectum Binge eating Malabsorption Rosacea Sun Damage Mad Cow Kidney stones Animals Pellagra Heart tumor

Mosquitoes, Filariasis & Dengue Fever

Source: www.nps.gov
Topic: Filariasis
Download: Click here!

Sort Desciption: NATURAL HISTORY GUIDE. Mosquitoes, Filariasis & Dengue Fever Mosquitoes may play a role in the grand scheme of things, but Im not really keen on the idea that they want to suck my blood. Worse still, they can ...

Content Inside:
NATURAL HISTORY GUIDE 61 32. Mosquitoes, Filariasis & Dengue Fever Mosquitoes may play a role in the grand scheme of things, but Im not really keen on the idea that they want to suck my blood. Worse still, they can infect us with two diseases in American Samoa -more about that shortly. At least 12 species of mosquitoes (namu) occur in American Samoa. Most are common across the western South Pacific region, but some are endemic to the Samoan islands (Aedes upolensis, Coquillettidia samoaensis, Ochlerotatus samoanus, Oc. tutuilae) and a few are newly introduced. Their life cycle involves several stages, one is the irritating adult mosquito, but their juveniles live in water. To reproduce, the adult female needs to obtain a blood meal (from you) to develop her eggs. She then lays her eggs in quiet puddles of water where they hatch and grow. The larvae breath air, so they generally hang around at the water surface but will wiggle quite actively when disturbed. After a week or two, the larvae pupate (a resting stage) and then emerge as flying adults. Females may live for 2-3 weeks and lay several clutches of eggs (each requires a blood meal). Only the female mosquito searches for a blood meal; the males (the ones with fuzzy antennae) feed on plant nectar. Also, not all the mosquitoes are after you personally -some species seek out birds as their preferred blood meal. The female mosquito finds you by following signals given off by your body such as body heat, odors and carbon dioxide. Light and movement also help her zero-in on you. She then sinks her long and thin mouth parts into your skin and sucks out a drop of blood, engorging so much that she can barely fly away. During the biting process, she secretes saliva into the cut to prevent the blood from coagulating. Your bodys reaction to this saliva is what causes the bite to itch and swell. Mosquitoes can carry two diseases in American Samoa: filariasis and dengue. Both ...

Name (required)

E-mail (required - never shown publicly)

URI (optional)

Your Comment

Verification Code

© 2007-2008 HealthPDF.org | Design by Ganesh Gunasegaran
Privacy Policy

All files and contents mentioned are the property of their respective owners. This page consists of a compilation of public information, commonly available on the internet, at multiple sites, as well as official websites. No information on this page is guaranteed to be correct, and any data contained here may be erroneous.