Mosquitoes pose a significant threat to the health and comfort of humans and their animals.
The irritation from the bite arises from the injection of mosquito saliva into the skin that acts as an aesthetic and anticoagulant. The injection of saliva is also import, because it is the route of disease vectors that enter humans and animals; it is this act that causes millions of human deaths each year. A female mosquito ingests the transmitted diseases during a previous blood meal, from an infected person or animal. Once inside the female’s body the disease causing organisms multiply before being passed on to another individual at the next blood meal.
Of the diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, malaria is the greatest killer of humans with the majority of deaths occurring in countries outside Australia (e.g. Papua New Guinea, throughout South East Asia, India, a few countries in the Middle East and Africa).
Malaria is not common in Australia; however the Australian population is often threatened with lesser epidemics such as hemorrhagic Dengue Fever, ‘ordinary’ Dengue Fever, Ross River Fever, and Murray Valley Encephalitis.
The following table shows some of the disease vectors transmitted by mosquitoes and where they breed and when the females are active.
Mosquito
|
Typical Larval Habitat
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Greatest periods of mosquito activity
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Typical sites where Mosquitoes bite people
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Disease associations
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Common Australian anopheline mosquito
Anopheles annulipes
|
Rural fresh water.
Natural & artificial,
Permanent or temporary
|
Mostly night
|
Mostly outdoors
|
Main hosts are wild and domestic animals
Myxomatosis, Malaria and Filariasis
|
Dengue Mosquito
Aedes aegypti
|
In natural & artificial containers in close association with humans
|
Day & night
|
Indoors and outdoors
|
Dengue fever and dog heartworm
|
Domestic container mosquito
Aedes notoscriptus
|
Rural & Urban natural & artificial contained water. Common in blocked roof guttering
|
Day & night
|
Indoors and outdoors
|
Myxomatosis and dog heartworm
|
Saltmarsh mosquito
Aedes vigilax
|
Mainly coastal areas; brackish marsh & mangroves
|
Day & night
|
Indoors and outdoors
|
Ross River and Barmah Forest Viruses & dog heartworm
|
Greystriped mosquito
Aedes vittiger
|
Mostly in temporary fresh water/more common inland
|
Day & night
|
Mostly outdoors
|
Myxomatosis
|
Common banded mosquito
Culex annulirostris
|
Freshwater, pools, swamps etc
|
Mostly night
|
Indoors and outdoors
|
Myxomatosis, Ross River & Barmah Forest Viruses, Murray Valley Encephalitis, Kunjin and Japanese Encephalitis Viruses and dog heartworm
|
Brown house mosquito
Culex quinquefasciatus
|
Polluted containers, pools etc., closely associated with humans
|
Mostly night
|
Mostly indoors
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Mainly hosts are chickens and humans
Filariasis & dog heartworm
|