MOSQUITOES

If you would see all of Nature gathered

up at one point, in all her loveliness,
and her skill, and her deadliness, and
her sex, where would you find a more
exquisite symbol than the mosquito?
-- Havelock Ellis, 1920
 The Family Culicidae - Mosquitoes

• Worldwide distribution
• > 3450 species and subspecies (38 genera)
• Great habitat diversity
• Approximately 40 million years older than humans
(fossils from Eocene, 38-54 mya)

• Anophelinae (subfamily) - Anopheles (genus)

• Culicinae (subfamily) - Aedes, Culex, Haemagogus,
Mansonia, Ochlerotatus and all other genera
 Mosquito Characteristics

• Conspicuous proboscis - forward projecting

• Scales on thorax, abdomen, legs & wing veins

• A fringe of scales along the posterior margin of

the wings
Mosquito Characteristics (note
conspicuous forward projecting
proboscis)

Non-biting Gnat (note proboscis

curved under head)

Mosquito
Gnat
 Mosquito Characteristics

• Bloodfeeding - only females take blood

• Males and females feed on plant sugars

• Gonotrophic cycle - feed, egg development,

oviposition (half-gravid, gravid)

• Egg biology - oviposition location, type of egg,

desiccation resistance, diapause

• Larval biology - aquatic, spiracle for breathing,

filter-feeders, some cannibalistic, variable habitats
 (1) Eggs – 3 strategies
• Singly on water surface
– Anopheles
• Singly in a pile, on moist substrates
– Aedes/Ochlerotatus
• Form of a raft, on water surface
– Culex
– Culiseta
Mosquito eggs:
Culex egg raft
Anopheles egg
with ‘floats’
Aedes egg

Patterns on the
external egg
surface are
species specific
Egg stage comparison
CULEX Egg Raft
 (2) Embryonation – 2 options

• Eggs hatch immediately (not all)

• OR
• Diapause required
– Triggered by decreasing day length.

• **Egg stage over wintering stage**

– Aedes/Ochlerotatus
(3) Larval Stage – Growth Stage
• Larval instars (4)
• Aquatic, Filter feeders
• Respiration

Anopheles
 (4) Pupa – Lighter than water
• Non-feeding
• Respiration
Pupal Stage Comparison

Anopheline Culicine
Mosquito Pupa and Larvae
Anopheles Pupa and Larvae
Mosquito Emerging
from Pupal Exuvia
 (5) Adults
• Emergence Adult Stage Comparison
• Mating
• Feeding
Anopheline Culicine
 females

Comparison of
male and
female
Anophelines
Culicine
vs. Culicines
Anopheline

males
 Behavior
• Activity

• Host Specificity
– Zoophilous
– Anthropophilous
– Ornithophilous
HABITAT
 Medical Importance
• Biting Nuisance (annoyance)
• Arboviruses
– Numerous (Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever,
WNV, JE, SLE, EEE, WEE, VEE).
• Filariasis
– Bancroftian and Brugian filariasis.
• Malaria
– 4 plasmodium species
 Malaria History
• Ronald Ross (1897)
• Malaria Eradication?
• Between 350 and 500 million clinical
episodes of malaria occur every year.

• 1-2 million deaths occur every year.

• About 60% of the cases of malaria

worldwide and more than 80% of the
malaria deaths worldwide occur in Africa
south of the Sahara.
 HUMAN MALARIA
• Parasite – Plasmodium spp.
– P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malaria, P. ovale
• Vector – Anopheles spp.

• Host
• Reservoir
• Distribution
 Anopheles
gambiae

WHO/TDR/HOLT Studios,
1992
Global Distribution
 Distribution
• Distribution Model
 Distribution

• Endemic /
Epidemic Risk
Areas
 Distribution

• Duration of Malaria
Transmission Season.

•
 Distribution
Start / End of Transmission Season
 Distribution

• Population
Distribution
 Filariasis History

• Patrick Manson (1877)

• Worked in Taiwan
• Autopsies in China
• Threadlike worms

• “Nothing walks with

aimless feet.:”
 Mosquito-Borne Human
Filariasis
• 250 million infections each year
• 2-3 million cases of obstructive filariasis
• 20% of pop in Calcutta infected
• 2 diseases that affect humans
– Urban Disease
– Rural Disease
 Urban and Rural Disease

• Urban Disease (Bancroftian filariasis)

– Parasite –
– An anthroponosis
– Bancroftia

• Rural Disease (Brugian filariasis)

– Parasite –
– An anthroponosis or zoonosis
– Brugian
 Transmission
• Microfilariae in blood.
• Microfil. Penetrate
midgut  thoracic
muscles.
• Enter new host.
 Periodicity
• (1) Periodic
Infection

• (2) Subperiodic
Infection
 VECTORS

• (1) Bancroftian Filariasis

– Cx. pipiens quinquefasciatis
– Cx. pipiens pipiens
– Anopheles spp.
– Aedes spp.

• (2) Brugian Filariasis

– Anopheles spp.
– Aedes spp.
– Mansonia (genus)
 DISTRIBUTION
• Tropics and subtropics

• Wuchereria bancrofti is encountered in

_________________.

• Brugia malayi is limited to _____.

• Dog Heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis, D.

repens)
 Mosquito Arboviruses
• Intrinsic incubation
period of a virus in
humans is a few days.

• Host becomes viraemic.

• Viraemia lasts typically 3

days then disappears
from the peripheral
blood.

• An arthropod must bite a

viraemic host if it is to
become infected.
Yellow Fever History
 Yellow Fever
• Brought to U.S. via slave trade.
• Aedes aegypti
• Originally in New World Monkey populations
• Jungle Yellow fever (3-factor disease in monkeys)
• New World people bring to town
• Old World mooting monkeys bring to town.
• Does occasionally occur in U.S.
• 1964 Eradication program (U.S. Public Health)
 YELLOW FEVER
• Is a _______

• Prevented the building of

the Panama Canal.

• Pathogen:

• Vector: Aedes aegypti,

Aedes spp., Haemagogus

• Host:
 Reservoir

• Human-mosquito in urban cycle,

• Monkey-mosquito in forest cycle;

• Deforestation may force infected monkeys

into areas where human-mosquito
transmission can occur.
 African Yellow Fever
Transmission Cycle
Vectors:
• Ae. Africanus (sylvatic)

• Ae. Bromeliae (rural)

• Ae. Aegypti (urban)

• Transovarial
Transmission
 Central and South America
Yellow Fever Transmission
Cycle
Vectors:
• Haemagogus spp. (jungle)

• Haemagogus spp. (rural)

• Ae. Aegypti (urban)

• Transovarial
Transmission
Distribution
 Diagnosis and Symptoms
• Most infections are mild, but the disease can cause
severe, life-threatening illness.

• Symptoms of severe infection are high fever, chills,

headache, muscle aches, vomiting, and backache.
After a brief recovery period, the infection can lead to
shock, bleeding, and kidney and liver failure. Liver
failure causes jaundice (yellowing of the skin and the
whites of the eyes).

• Diagnosed by blood test.

 Prevention and Treatment

• General precautions to avoid mosquito bites; the use

of insect repellent, protective clothing, and mosquito
netting.
• Yellow fever vaccine has been used for several
decades. A single dose has a lasting immunity of 10
years or more. (Live virus vaccine)
• Booster dose is given every 10 years as needed.
• Treatment: No real treatment, drink plenty of fluids,
keep away from mosquitoes to protect others, most
people get better over a long recovery period.
Dengue Fever History
 Dengue (Breakbone) Fever
• Dengue has four
serological types
(DEN-1,DEN-2,DEN-3
and DEN-4).
 VECTORS
• Aedes aegypti (Yellow fever Mosquito)
• Aedes albopictus (Asian Tiger Mosquito)
• Aedes scutellaris
• Aedes polynesiensis
 Transmission Cycle
• Blood meal from
viremic human.
• Midgut replication
• Salivary glands, pass
on during feeding.
• Transovarial
transmission
• SE Asia – monkey
cycle
 Replication and Transmission
of Dengue Virus (Part 1)
1. Virus transmitted to human
in mosquito saliva 1
2. Virus replicates
in target organs 2
4
3. Virus infects white 3
blood cells and
lymphatic tissues
4. Virus released and
circulates in blood
 Replication and Transmission
of Dengue Virus (Part 2)

5. Second mosquito 6
ingests virus with blood

6. Virus replicates
in mosquito midgut 7
and other organs,
infects salivary
glands
5
7. Virus replicates
in salivary
glands
Distribution
Recent Dengue in the U.S.A.
(Texas)
• Dengue epidemics occurred in the USA in the
1800s and the first half of the 1900s.
• Recent indigenous transmission
– 1980: 23 cases, first locally acquired since 1945
– 1986: 9 cases
– 1995: 7 cases
– 1997: 3 cases
– 1998: 1 case
– 1999: 18 cases
• Lack of recent transmission likely due to changes in
life-style
 Reasons for Dengue
Expansion in the Americas
• Extensive vector infestation, with declining vector
control

• Unreliable water supply systems

• Increasing non-biodegradable containers and poor

solid waste disposal

• Increased air travel

• Increasing population density in urban areas

 Trouble Ahead?

• 2.5 billion people at risk world-wide

• In the Americas, 50-fold increase in reported

cases of DHF (1989-1993 compared to 1984-
1988)*

• Widespread abundance of Aedes aegypti in at-

risk areas

* Organization of American States, Human Health in the Americas, 1996

 Signs and Symptoms

• Sudden onset of fever usually high fever,

severe headache, backache, joint pains,
nausea and vomiting, eye pain, and
rash.

• Dengue hemorrhagic fever (more severe

form)
 Treatment and Prevention
• There is no specific medication for treatment of a
dengue infection.

• Persons who think they have dengue should use

analgesics (pain relievers) with acetaminophen and
avoid those containing aspirin. They should also rest
and drink plenty of fluids.

• General precautions to avoid mosquito bites; the use

of insect repellent, protective clothing, and mosquito
netting.
 Eastern Equine Encephalitis
(EEE)
• Distribution: Along the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts, from
Canada to Florida.

• Disease: fatal disease that predominantly affects

horses.

• Reservoir:

• Pathogen:
 Transmission

• Mainly bird/mosquito
cycle.

• Man and Horses are

dead-end hosts.
 Maintenance VECTOR
• Culiseta melanura

• The bird cycle

• Habitat:
 Bridge VECTORS
East and Gulf Coast
• Ae. taeniorhynchus,
Ae. sollicitans

Florida
• Culex nigripalpis

Inland
• Ae. vexans,
Coquillattidia perturbans
 Signs and Symptoms
• Most people infected with EEE do not become ill
and others may have only a mild influenza-like illness
with fever, headache and sore throat. In rare cases,
infection of the central nervous system can occur,
causing sudden fever, muscle pains and a headache
of increasing severity often followed by seizures and
coma.
• About 50% of these human cases are fatal, with young
children and the elderly most at risk.
• Symptoms in humans usually occur from 4 to 10 days
after the bite of an infected mosquito.
 St. Louis Encephalitis (SLE)
• Distribution: West of Mississippi River, Florids, Ohio
River Valley, NJ and NY. Everywhere in the U.S.
except New England area.

• Disease: mammals are accidental hosts. It is a more

serious problem for the elderly. We see epidemics of
up to 2000 cases in 10 year cycles.

• Reservoir:

• Pathogen:
Distribution
 Transmission
• Bird/mosquito cycle

• Humans and
mammals are dead
end hosts.

• Transovarial
transmission in lab,
but probably not in
nature.
 VECTORS
• Culex pipiens pipiens (Northern House)

• Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus (Southern House)

• Culex nigripalpus

• Culex tarsalis
 Signs and Symptoms
• Mild infections occur without apparent symptoms other
than fever with headache. More severe infection is
marked by headache, high fever, neck stiffness,
stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, occasional
convulsions (especially in infants) and spastic (but
rarely flaccid) paralysis.

• There is no specific treatment. Intensive supportive

therapy depending on the individual.
 Western Equine
Encephalomyelitis (WEE)
• Distribution: Wisconsin, Illinois, all states west of the
Mississippi River valley, not found east of it.

• Disease: Human mortality is 1-5%. Woman and

children more severely affected and more likely to
develop neurological disorders. Equine mortality is
high.

• Reservoir:

• Pathogen:
 Transmission
• See handout

• Humans and horses are dead end hosts.

• The rabbit cycle is thought to go in two directions

making them a reservoir.
 VECTORS
• Culex Tarsalis
• Culiseta melanura
• Culiseta inornata

WEE-leporidae transmission system

• Ochlerotatus dorsalis
• Ochlerotatus melanimon
 Signs and Symptoms
• Symptoms range from mild flu-like illness to frank
encephalitis, coma and death.
• Mild to severe neurologic deficits in survivors.
• Inapparent infections in up to 11% of humans in
endemic zones.
• 639 confirmed cases in the U.S. since 1964.

• Treatment is supportive.
 LaCrosse Encephalitis (LE)
• Distribution: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin,
Tennessee. Some in Western U.S, but not common.

• Disease: Subclinical or very mild, but like the others

sometimes develops into something more serious.
Mostly children under 16 years of age.

• Reservoir:

• Pathogen:
 Transmission
• See handout!

• Virus cycles in woodland habitats between the

treehole mosquito (Aedes triseriatus) and vertebrate
hosts (chipmunks, squirrels)

• Vector uses artificial containers (tires, buckets, etc.) in

addition to treeholes.
 VECTORS
• Ochlerotatus triseriatus

• Ochlerotatus hendersoni

• Aedes dorsalis (Utah).

 Signs and Symptoms
• Frank encephalitis progressing to seizures, coma;
majority of infections are subclinical or result in mild
illness.

• Approximately 70 cases reported per year.

• Treatment is supportive.
 West Nile Virus (WNV)
• Distribution: throughout the United States
• Disease: 1999 first case in the U.S., NY.
• Reservoir:
• Pathogen:

• Originated in Africa, is a disease of children there.

Spread from Africa to other parts of the world.
 Transmission
• Humans and
mammals are
dead end hosts.

• Bird/mosquito
cycle.

• Virus cycles in
the birds blood
for a few days.
 VECTORS
• Culex pipiens (East)

• Culex tarsalis (West)

• Aedes vexans (Amplifyer?)

• Several other species that have

shown promise as possible vectors.
 Signs and Symptoms

• Mostly flu like, but can develop into encephalitis.

• About one in 150 people will develop severe illness.
Which include high fever, headache, neck stiffness,
stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions,
muscle weakness, vision loss, numbness and
paralysis.
• Children and elderly are most at risk.
• Can get via blood transfusions and organ transplants.
• Breastmilk – CDC had one case reported
• There is no specific treatment for WNV infection.
 Japanese Encephalitis (JE)
• Distribution: Japan, China, Malaysia, Korea and
other areas of South-east Asia, India, and few in
Australia.
• Disease: Similar to other encephalitic diseases we
discussed.
• Reservoir:

• Vector: Culex tritaeniorhynchus, Cx. gelidus, Cx.

vishnui
• Pathogen:
Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis
(VEE)
• Distribution: Southern U.S. through Central America
to northern parts of South America.
• Disease: infection is fatal in horses, but very mild in
humans.
• Reservoir:
• Vector: Culex spp., Ochlerotatus taeniorhynchus,
Psorophora confinnis.
• Pathogen:
Mosquito Protection
Mosquito Surveillance
 Control
Directed at the Immature Stages
• Biological Control
– Predators
– Pathogens and Parasites
– Genetic Control
• Mechanical (Environmental) Control
– Source Reduction
– Environmental Manipulation
• Chemical Control
– Oils
– Paris Green
– Insecticides
– Insect Growth Regulators (IGRs)
 Control
Directed at the Adult Stages
• Aerosols, Mists and Fogs
• Ultra-low-volume applications
• Residual house-spraying
 Malaria Control
• Larval Control
– Habitat elimination
– Bio, Env, and Chemical

• Adult Control
– Residual house-spraying
– Insecticide-impregnated
bed-nets
– Eradication
Malaria Control
 RESEARCH
• $40 million into research!
• DNA, other molecular techniques
• Release Programs
• Drugs, vaccines
• Control
• Ecology, Biology, Behavior
• Education