Most deaths are caused by a single factor - mosquitoes. An estimated two to three million people die each year as a result of mosquito-borne diseases, and a further 200 million are infected with a mosquito-borne disease.
The most common diseases transmitted by mosquitoes include malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever and encephalitis. Mosquitoes infect dogs and cats with heartworm.
One to two people die per mosquito per year. It is only female mosquitoes that bite, as the blood of humans and animals is not used as food for the mosquitoes themselves, but for the eggs. Adult mosquitoes feed on flower nectar, fruit juices and decaying organic matter. A mosquito bites four to five different people per feeding. If even one of these people is infected with an infectious disease, it is transmitted to four to five more people at the next feeding. The number of infected victims grows exponentially.
Mosquitoes remain within a radius of one to two kilometres during their lifetime. They are therefore not directly responsible for the spread of diseases, but only indirectly through the travelling of their infected hosts.
Mosquito bites are particularly dangerous in Africa, where malaria is prevalent, and India. In the USA, there are cases of encephalitis caused by insect bites every year.
Not all mosquitoes are the same. They have existed on earth for 100 million years, during which time 3000 different species have developed. In the course of evolution, they have adapted to every climate and they choose their host depending on the climatic conditions.
The mosquito does not orientate itself by sight. It finds its host through heat receptors. The range of these receptors increases threefold with more humidity. The average life expectancy of a female mosquito is 3 to 100 days, that of a male mosquito 10 to 20 days. Not only humans are among the mosquito's favourite hosts, but also mammals, birds and even some reptiles.
From a distance of 30 metres, a mosquito can detect the exhaled carbon dioxide and the body odour of a potential host.
Mosquitoes breed in stagnant water. To reduce mosquitoes in your own garden, you should avoid all types of stagnant water (e.g. buckets, gutters and holes in tree stumps). A mosquito lays up to 300 eggs at a time and even up to 3000 in the course of its short life. It takes about 4 days for the egg to develop into a mosquito.
