Mosquito-Borne Diseases

Mosquitoes of the family Culicidae are pests of man and animals worldwide and are well known transmitters of infectious agents of immense importance. It is only the females of mosquitoes that suck blood from animals. During this process pathogens are transmitted between hosts by the feeding female mosquitoes.

Mosquito-borne diseases are caused by a range of different pathogen groups. There are protozoal infections, like malaria; nematode infections, like Wuchereria bancrofti (elephantiasis [lymphatic filariosis]), Dirofilaria immitis (heartworm disease) and Dirofilaria repens (subcutaneous dirofilariosis); virus infections like dengue fever, West-Nile fever, yellow fever; chikungunya fever and Rift-Valley fever and bacterial infections, like tularemia.