Undoubtedly, everyone has heard about such a dangerous disease as malaria and its carriers of malaria mosquitoes. We even read about this disease in school books. But before, if somewhere I came across the word “malaria”, then instantly in my head there was a photograph from a textbook on history or geography. A huge number of insects, exhausting heat, palm trees, dark-skinned people living in inhuman conditions, and now and then dying from terrible diseases.
And here the end of the past and the beginning of the present century are marked by an increase in the number of outbreaks of malaria in our latitudes.
How did this happen? Why? Do malaria mosquitoes live with us? How can one not become a hostage to this most dangerous disease, which only in pre-revolutionary Russia affected up to 8 million people annually?
Well, let's start in order. The main reason that prevents the prevention of the onset of the disease in the countries of Asia and Africa (namely, this insect predominates there) is an acute shortage of qualified entomologist specialists and the funds necessary for the purchase and production of drugs aimed at the destruction of malaria mosquitoes.
The malaria mosquito, or Anopheles in Latin, belongs to the category of insects that choose a moist and warm habitat. And in the summer, it is precisely these weather conditions that are created in almost all corners of the globe. Even in huge cities, whole clouds of mosquitoes breed each year, not to mention swamps, forests and ponds.
So what is the difference between a malaria mosquito and a regular one? We note immediately that neither in appearance nor in structure you will be able to recognize it. But the size of the malaria mosquito exceeds the usual 2, or even 3 times.
A hungry female, and, as you know, only they bite, able to locate their victim at a distance of up to 3 meters.
It is hard to imagine that such a small and seemingly completely defenseless and awkward insect is capable of absorbing a volume of blood weighing more than its own. In the blood that has entered the body of a malaria mosquito, eggs are formed and mature, approximately 150-200 pieces at a time. And of them, in turn, very soon the larvae of already new carriers of the disease appear.
It is interesting to note that the next time a female mosquito mosquito becomes aggressive only after she manages to lay eggs. At first, the parasite will develop only in the stomach of the “sick” mosquito, but gradually it will spread throughout the body, eventually ending up in the salivary glands. And just then, a malaria mosquito will turn into a peddler of a dangerous disease
In general, the life span of this insect is only two months. Most of the time, the female eats nectar, which collects from flowers. But it turns into a "predator" only before laying eggs. Malaria mosquitoes become especially active in the evening and at night. Dozens or even hundreds of them swarm in the air in damp terrain or over a pond.
As a rule, the question arises, how do more and more new foci of malaria appear every year if the malaria mosquito lives only two months, after which it dies, which means that most of the year new larvae are not deposited at all?
The thing is that not a single living organism, except humans, is ill with malaria, i.e. a year later and with the onset of favorable weather conditions, malaria mosquitoes take the infection from sick people and transfer it to healthy people. And so the circle closes: people with malaria "infect" mosquitoes, and they, in turn, very quickly find new victims.
Of course, neither medicine, nor the chemical industry stand still. And today, the forces of modern scientists are aimed at combating both the malaria mosquitoes themselves and the consequences of their bites.