Latest Mosquito Stories
Fruit fly and malaria mosquito sensors attuned to heat, chemical odors Fruit flies and mosquitoes share similar sensory receptors that allow them to distinguish among thousands of sensory cues – particularly heat and chemical odors – as they search for food or try to avoid danger, researchers from Boston College and Brandeis University report in the current electronic edition of the journal Nature. Pinpointing a tiny portion of a protein found on the surfaces of neurons that give...
Findings Point to the Development of Novel Drugs that Could Eradicate the Disease LA JOLLA, Calif., Nov. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A international team led by scientists from the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) and The Scripps Research Institute has discovered a family of chemical compounds that could lead to a new generation of antimalarial drugs capable of not only alleviating symptoms but also preventing the deadly disease. In a study...
A study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute and their Zambian colleagues detected contrasting patterns of drug resistance in malaria-causing parasites taken from both humans and mosquitoes in rural Zambia. Parasites found in human blood samples showed a high prevalence for pyrimethamine-resistance, which was consistent with the class of drugs widely used to treat malaria in the region. However, parasites taken from mosquitoes themselves had very low...
Malaria Revealed As Ancient, Adaptive And Persistent Foe One of the most comprehensive analyses yet done of the ancient history of insect-borne disease concludes for the first time that malaria is not only native to the New World, but it has been present long before humans existed and has evolved through birds and monkeys. The findings, presented in a recent issue of American Entomologist by researchers from Oregon State University, are based on the study of insect specimens preserved...
Scientists have found that a genetically modified mosquito could help tackle dengue fever and other insect-borne diseases. Researchers found that the genetically modified males mated successfully with wild females in a dengue-affected part of the Cayman Islands. They said that mating has not been proven in the wild, and could cut the number of disease-carrying mosquitoes. The World Health Organization (WHO) believes there may be 50 million cases every year. Scientists realized in...
KOLDING, Denmark, Oct. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Bestnet A/S announced today that Doreen Weatherby, US Sales & Marketing Manager, appeared on the October 9, 2011 episode of The EmeraldPlanet television show during an episode entitled "LESS MALARIA: Reaching Community Immunity in Africa through a Proactive Community-Based Health Care Approach and Successful Partnerships." EmeraldPlanet is a worldwide non-profit organization based in the Washington, DC area that is dedicated to identifying...
Spread highest in urbanized and agricultural habitats After its initial appearance in New York in 1999, West Nile virus spread across the United States in just a few years and is now well established throughout North and South America. Both the mosquitoes that transmit it and the birds that are important hosts for the virus are abundant in areas that have been modified by human activities. As a result, transmission of West Nile virus is highest in urbanized and agricultural habitats....
Robins play a key role in transmission of West Nile virus across much of North America After its initial appearance in New York in 1999, West Nile virus spread across the United States in just a few years and is now well established throughout North and South America. Both the mosquitoes that transmit it and the birds that are important hosts for the virus are abundant in areas that have been modified by human activities. As a result, transmission of West Nile virus is highest in urbanized...
NORRISTOWN, Pa., Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Environmental Protection will apply treatments the evening of Friday, Oct. 7, in portions of Richland Township and Quakertown Borough, Bucks County, to control adult mosquito populations. As a result of recent flooding, high populations of adult mosquitoes capable of transmitting the West Nile virus have been detected near these areas of the county. The treatments will be administered with truck-mounted equipment to...
NORRISTOWN, Pa., Oct. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Environmental Protection will apply treatments the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 5, in the West Bristol section of Bristol Township, Bucks County, to control adult mosquito populations. As a result of recent flooding, high populations of adult mosquitoes capable of transmitting the West Nile virus have been detected near this area of the county. The treatments will be administered with truck-mounted equipment to spray...
Latest Mosquito Reference Libraries
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease with a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family. It is transmitted by the bite of female mosquitoes and is found in tropical and subtropical areas in South America and Africa, but not in Asia. Primates and a few kinds of mosquitoes are the only known hosts. The origin of the disease is most likely Africa. From there it was introduced to South America through the slave trade in the 16th century. There...
Aedes albopictus (Family Culicidae), the Asian Tiger Mosquito or Forest Day Mosquito, is characterized by its black and white striped legs and small, black and white body. It was native to south-east Asia, and occupied a habitat that spread from Madagascar eastward to New Guinea, and north to the latitude of Korea. The typical member of the Aedes albopictus has a length of about 5 mm. As with other members of the mosquito family, the female is outfitted with an elongated proboscis that she...
The crane flies (Tipulidae) are a family of insects that closely resemble giant mosquitoes. Like the mosquito, they are in the order Diptera (flies) and are sometimes called mosquito eaters, mosquito hawks, or skeeter eaters. They are also one of three unrelated arthropods named Daddy long-legs. The other two are the harvestmen and vibrating, cellar or house spider. As such, Crane Flies are wrapped up in the myth of being the most poisonous spider, but unable to bite humans. This is...
The mosquito is a member of the family Culicidae. These insects have a pair of scaled wings, a pair of halteres, a slender body, and long legs. Only the females of most mosquito species suck blood from other animals. Size varies but is rarely greater than 0.6 inch (15 mm). Mosquitoes weigh only about 0.03 to 0.04 grain (2 to 2.5 mg). They can fly at about 0.9 to 1.6 mph (1.5 to 2.5 km/h) and most species are nocturnal. Mosquitoes are believed to have evolved 170 million years ago during...
