One of the most despicable species of all time
for human is mosquito. From time to time, humans have invented and discovered
new ways of fighting these tiny but fierce beings. But still, mosquito wins
over us at times.
The attacker is Aedes aegypti, a mosquito
that has, over time, developed a taste for people. It’s a city dweller that
hovers in undisturbed crannies and can breed in a mere capful of water. Unlike
some mosquitoes, which help themselves to a good meal and fly off satisfied, Aedes
aegypti is
a serial biter that can work through an entire family in minutes.
The lingering itch isn’t the problem; it’s the
saliva transferred with each bite that could be loaded with thousands of virus
particles, ready to multiply in the human body with little to stop it.
In the early 1900s, yellow fever, named for its
hallmark jaundice and temperature spikes, was the most feared consequence of an Aedes bite.
Outbreaks of the viral disease flared up with regularity in major port cities,
and even delayed construction of the Panama Canal. After an effective vaccine
was developed in the 1930s, yellow fever subsided and an emerging threat took
its place: dengue, a flulike sickness so painful that it’s known as “breakbone
fever.” For decades, dengue has reigned as the biggest Aedes-carried menace, now estimated to infect more than 50 million
people a year in the Americas and almost 400 million worldwide.
Scientists are finally on the brink of
introducing promising vaccines that might help control dengue, as well as newer
mosquito-borne viral risks that now dominate public attention: Zika and
chikungunya.
Well, we can only hope that these vaccines come
out soon so that more and more lives can be saved, so that no one has to die
because of the mosquito bites.
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