What malaria mosquitoes look like and how dangerous they are for humans

The malaria mosquito is the hero of multiple scary stories, one of the most dangerous representatives of a large mosquito family, including more than 3 thousand types of mosquitoes. His bites become the cause of the development of a very dangerous disease - malaria. In order not to give in to panic prematurely, you should study the dangerous insect in more detail and learn how to identify it among other non-dangerous species.

Systematics and distribution

In Latin, its name sounds like Anopheles. It belongs to the order of dipterans and has more than 400 species. It is even known that 2 of them are fossils and became extinct many years ago. Mosquitoes - carriers of malaria, which can be found on the territory of Russia, number 10 species.

You can meet these representatives almost anywhere in the world. The exception is too cold regions. Malaria mosquito in Russia lives on the territory of the European part and Western Siberia. The unfavorable climate of Eastern Siberia made life impossible for these insects in the region. Anopheles required close proximity of ponds to be able to breed. Residents of the Republic of Tatarstan and Kazan suffer most from these insects in the summer.

Important!

Representatives of malaria mosquitoes live in the Far East. But the peculiarities of the local climate, which prevent the completion of the life cycle of malarial plasmodium, make it impossible to spread a disease such as malaria.

Most of them can be found in tropical countries. The highest mortality from malaria was also noted there. Sometimes these bloodsuckers are also found in regions where the disease was defeated.

Most often they are found in areas near the equator. It is here that annually a huge number of people die from malaria, most of which are children under 5 years old.

External features

To more clearly evaluate what a malaria mosquito looks like, just look at its photo. The insect has a long and thin body, the size of which is 6-14 mm. Body color is dark gray or brown. The malaria mosquito has a pair of narrow transparent wings. The body consists of small segments, distinctly visible dark stripes on the back.

Piskun legged mosquito and the malaria mosquito have many similarities. They have an identical lifestyle and body structure. The appearance of the species may vary depending on the time of year, sex and area of ​​distribution.

It will not be difficult to distinguish a mosquito from a malaria mosquito if you know some features of each type:

1. The size. Anofeles is a large mosquito, it is 1.5 times larger than an ordinary squeak.
2. The structure of the paws. Long hind limbs. They are almost 2 times longer than the front ones. An ordinary mosquito has all its legs almost the same length.
3. The oral apparatus. It has a pair of tentacles, the length of which is similar to the proboscis. An ordinary mosquito has slightly shorter tentacles.
4. Stripes on the body. Piskun has a uniform gray body.

The most characteristic difference is its body location during nutrition.It is at an angle of 45 degrees relative to the substrate, which is clearly visible in the photo of the malaria mosquito.

Life cycle and insect development

The development cycle of a malaria mosquito includes the same steps as a regular mosquito:

1. Egg.
2. Larva.
3. Dolly.
4. Adult or adult.

The female lays eggs in ponds. This is where most of the offspring develops. The period of maturation from an egg to an adult is 1-2 weeks. In the adult stage, the malaria mosquito spends about 2 months. The time how many insects of this species live and develop can vary depending on climatic conditions. Sufficient humidity and moderate lighting are optimal for development.

What mosquitoes eatdepends on gender. After mating, the female goes in search of prey. To do this, she has a developed sense of smell, which helps to catch the right smell at very large distances. After that, she goes to a suitable place where the masonry takes place. During masonry, it may not be fed. The male malaria mosquito has a different structure of the oral apparatus and therefore its diet consists of plant juices.

Important!

Often called malaria karamorov. This species has a body length of 6 cm and is absolutely safe for humans and other living creatures.

For laying eggs, the female chooses filamentous algae. As in them young individuals will be best developed.

Why are they dangerous?

A striped mosquito is dangerous to humans only if it previously drank blood from an infected person. That is, mosquitoes only carry the causative agents of a dangerous disease, and are not a source in fact. According to statistics, up to 3 million people die from malaria every year. The vast majority of them live in Africa.

Important!

Not all representatives of this species may be carriers of malaria. Anopheles mosquito poses a danger to humans only in those regions where an outbreak of the disease itself is noted. Where there are no infected people, representatives of this type of insect are completely safe.

The causative agent is malarial plasmodium. These are unicellular microorganisms that develop in the human blood cells. There plasmodium multiplies and devastates all their contents. Having destroyed the contents of one red blood cell, it moves to another. In the period of the pathogen exit, a stage of exacerbation and severe fever are observed in humans.

The malaria carrier poses the greatest danger to pregnant women and young children, as their weakened immune system will not be able to fully fight the infection.

Important!

Also, malaria mosquitoes can transmit pathogens of HIV infection, anthrax and many intestinal infections.

The consequences of the attack at first are no different from bite of a common piskun mosquito: edema is formed, itching, redness and burning are felt.

Further, malarial plasmodium develops in the liver and from there it enters the bloodstream. Progressing in the blood cells, malaria leads to regular fevers, which are followed by chills. Fever is characterized by periodicity. Attacks occur every 3 days, after which there comes a short period of improvement. Ultimately, clogging of the blood vessels of the brain and death of the infected occurs.

Most often, children from 6 months to 5 years old are fatal. Babies have passive immunity, which was given to them by their mother. For pregnant women, malaria is dangerous in preterm labor, eclampsia, and death.

What to do if bitten by a malaria mosquito

The first thing to do is call an ambulance. Then wash the wound after a bite with an alcohol solution and apply cold. The victim is laid in bed and provided with plenty of drink. If the functioning of the heart muscle worsens, patients inject caffeine or adrenaline.Additionally, an antihistamine should be used to reduce the allergic reaction. Often, against the background of overexcitation in people, anaphylactic shock is noted.

Important!

Acute signs of infection can be noted only 10-15 days after the pathogen enters the body.

Additional symptoms of the development of the disease:

• nausea;
• vomiting
• pain at the site of the bite;
• suffocation;
• yellowness of the proteins of the eyes and skin;
• increased sweating;
• cramps.

It is important to be able to prevent infection. For this, while staying in places where malaria mosquitoes are found, it is necessary to use the maximum number of possible protective equipment:

1. Fumigators.
2. DIY mosquito traps.
3. Mosquito nets.
4. Creams.
5. Sprays.

You can also use folk remedieshow to kill a piskun mosquito. They are also effective against malaria.

Thus, malaria mosquitoes pose a huge danger to human life. Preventive measures can be taken to prevent infection and prevent it from occurring. effective mosquito repellent while on the street.