How can a mosquito make you sick? The underside of a tiny vector.
He barely weighs a few milligrams, steals relatively silently, and yet he is responsible for millions of patients each year: the mosquito. Dengue, malaria, chikungunya Or the Zika virus are not transmitted by air or food … but by an infected mosquito bite. How this little INSECT Can it become so dangerous?
Image Wikimedia
It all starts with a bite … but not just any
In mosquitoes, only females sting. For what ? Because they need blood to mature their eggs. When a mosquito female (for example Aedes Aegypti, the one who transmits dengue) stings an already infected person, she aspires blood … and the viruses there.
These viruses do not stay in its stomach. They cross the barriers of its digestive system, then travel in its body until reaching its salivary glands. From there, each new bite can transmit the virus to another person.
A simple vector … but formidable
The mosquito does not “make” the virus. It simply serves as a vector, that is to say a carrier between two human hosts. What makes the mosquito so dangerous is that he can sting several times in his life, and contaminating several people.
Dengue, for example, causes strong fevers, joint pain, sometimes serious, even fatal complications in its severe forms. And there is not always specific treatment.
Why are some regions more affected?
Mosquitoes that transmit diseases live in hot and humid areas, where they reproduce quickly. With global warming, they gradually widen their territory. We now find them in regions where they were absent 20 years ago, including Europe South.
To protect yourself:
– Eliminate stagnant waters (pots, buckets, gutters) where mosquitoes lay
– Wear covering clothes, especially at sunrise and sunset
– Use repellents and mosquito nets
– On a trip, find out about risk areas
Thus, a mosquito can become a real “flying syringe” if it is infected. It does not transmit the disease every time, but it is enough for a bite so that everything swing.
