World wide, there are 2500 different species of mosquitoes. In the USA alone there are 150 species. Mosquitoes must have stagnant water to breed. Only the adult female mosquitoes bite men and other animals, like cattle, horses, goats, deer, rabbits, snakes, lizards, frogs and all types of birds. The males feed on plant juices. These buzzing little mosquitoes are disease transmitters, and can cause your cat and dogs to contact heartworms.
WHO estimates there are 50 million cases of dengue and malaria around the world every year and of this, at least 125000 people die yearly. These diseases become more prevalent as the ambient temperature rises. Dengue and malaria are no longer seasonal. Their presence is now continuous. So be ware of disease traps like discarded tyres, or tyres used to weigh down roofs in the shanty areas. Industrial equipment which are left in the yard, without proper covers or shades can collect rain water for mosquitoes to breed.
For malaria alone, every year about 250 million people are infested and nearly one million die.
At cooler climates, mosquitoes mate during autumn. But in the tropics, they mate whenever they become adults. After mating, the males die but the females hide in leaf piles, loose barks, or cracks in buildings. So clean up your bushy areas, but do not destroy the bushes as these bushes attract the small birds which feed on the mosquitoes.
Another smart thing to do is to allow bats and birds to live around your area, possibly putting up bird and bat houses for them to roost. Bats are living bug zappers. One bat can eat up to 1000 mosquitoes per hour.
Another thing you can do is to request your local health authorities to carry out fogging at your area regularly if it is justified and if you are living in a country which cares. Disease-carrying mosquitoes have spread to cooler climates and are now a global problem.
Other areas to clean up are the possible sources of standing water such as discarded bottles, containers, flower pots etc. If you have a large pond, put fresh water fishes like mosquito-fish or bleeding heart tetra. These fishes feed on mosquito larvae. Most other tropical fresh water fishes also feed on larvae. You can experiment on this yourself.
Mosquitoes remain within a mile or two of their source. But some are found to have traveled 75 miles from their breeding source. Most males live for about a week but the females live up to a month.
Andes mosquitoes attack during the day. These are the ones spreading the dengue fever. The disease is transmitted when the andes bites an infested person and then bites someone else. They prefer to bite humans and can fly many miles from their breeding sources.
Anopheles mosquitoes are the ones which transmit malaria to man, and about 60 species of these are carriers of malaria parasite.
Scientists in Japan have developed successfully, a mosquito that vaccinates as it bites. They genetically engineered a mosquito producing a natural vaccine protein in its saliva which is injected into the bloodstream when it bites a human or animal. These bites raise antibodies in the mice, including successful immunization with vaccine. After the bites, protective immune responses are induced, like a conventional vaccination. Continuous exposures to bites will maintain high levels of protective immunity for a lifetime.
Culex mosquitoes attack at dusk and after dark. They prefer domestic and wild birds. They can transmit sleeping sickness to man and horses. The females which emerge in late summer search sheltered areas to hibernate until spring.
Culiseta mosquitoes attack in the evening or in shade during the day. They mainly feed on birds and mammals, and occasionally humans.
