Mosquitoes - The Bringers of Death
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
If ever there was such a small life form that has spread so much misery, it is hard to think of anything that outranks the mosquito. While most associate itchy bites with the buzzing, there are far worse things that can happen.
Mosquitoes have a unique ability to carry many of the most vicious and nasty diseases without actually being effected. Instead, they inject you with them. This occurs when the mosquito pierces your skin and injects saliva that numbs the bite area.
Malaria is probably the illness most associated with mosquitoes. Malaria is a prevalent in Asia, Africa and South America although it can be found in other areas of the world as well. As many as 300 million people catch it from mosquitoes a year.
As the mosquito bites you, the Malaria parasite enters your blood stream and heads to the liver where it reproduces. Dehydration can lead to death, but symptoms usually stop with fever, fatigue, diarrhea and shaking.
While Malaria is miserable, it can’t shake a stick at Dengue Fever. Spread by mosquitoes throughout Asia and Africa, this fever causes horrific symptoms and, in worst case situations, the most miserable of deaths.
Dengue Fever is a virus that is brutal. After the mosquito bite, it begins replicating resulting in high fever, shakes and general misery. In bad cases, the patient literally bleeds to death through orifices including the ears and eyes.
But that is not all. Mosquitoes also carry Encephalitis. A viral infection, this disease attacks your brain and causes it to swell. In fact, it swells so much it is pressed up against the skull and results in brain damage and even death.
Yellow Fever is yet another wicked disease carried by mosquitoes. It is a virus transferred during the mosquito bite. In most cases, it results in fever and vomiting for a three to four day period and that is all. In roughly 15 percent of the cases, it can be much worse.
For a minority of patients, Yellow Fever is a nightmare. It starts with a high temperature that never goes away. Your skin then turns yellow. You then begin to bleed through every orifice including your eyes. At this point, 50 percent of patients die in 10 to 14 days.
At this point, it has probably become obvious that mosquitoes are the bringers of misery and death. Treating all these diseases is impossible, so killing the mosquitoes is critical. Widespread spraying works, but has to be done consistently.
Is there any way to control mosquitoes around your property? Yep. They need standing water to breed. Make sure there is no standing water around your house and you will have few mosquito problems.
