This year marks 20 years since Russia first learned about an exotic disease - West Nile fever (WNF). The virus lived in African countries, but gradually moved to the European continent.
WNV is transmitted by mosquitoes. Every year in Russia and Europe people die from this infection.
“This year we have already treated 20 people, and the victims continue to arrive,” states Irina Koshevko, a doctor at the infectious diseases department of City Hospital No. 1 Semashko in Rostov-on-Don . – Every year the number of cases of West Nile fever increases. If there are mosquitoes, there is a danger of infection. But there are also positive aspects - we have become more accurate in diagnosing the disease, and we are already paying closer attention to the symptoms. Alas, the disease has not been fully studied. And there is no specific treatment. Depending on the severity of the case, we select therapy.”
A mosquito bite today can land you in the hospital. Photo: Frame youtube.com/ Vitaly Kolbasin
The female mosquito needs to drink blood to survive the winter. Insect activity intensifies in the fall, so mosquitoes choose more and more new victims.
Reports of victims of West Nile fever are coming from all over Europe today. More than 150 people fell ill in Greece, 15 of them died.
A similar picture was observed in Europe in 2022 - the fever officially infected more than 1,300 Europeans. The most cases were registered in Italy (495). People also got sick in Hungary, Greece, Romania, Croatia and other countries.
Question answer
What is West Nile fever and what are its symptoms?
In Russia, the virus has settled in the south of the country - in the Astrakhan, Volgograd and Rostov regions. If you look at the map, the picture is bleak. The fever is gradually moving north. Astrakhan - Volgograd - Rostov-on-Don - and now cases have already been recorded in Voronezh and Lipetsk.
In Russia, special statistics are not kept on those who die from fever, since people die not from the virus itself, but from its complications – meningitis. This year, two people died from the effects of fever in the Rostov region. Official sources provide information on individual regions - for example, in the Volgograd region, from 1999 to 2012, 59 people died from the consequences of the virus.
Physiological abilities
The number of times a mosquito can bite depends on how calmly the insect feeds. Initially, you should understand that males do not bite at all. The diet of mosquitoes is determined by gender. The need to replenish blood reserves arises in fertilized females. Before this, they also feed on nectar and plant juices. Therefore, the male cannot bite even once. Spends most of his time on lawns with flowers and in the forest. The maximum lifespan of males is 10 days. Insects die soon after fertilization, having completed their main mission.
Mosquito bite
The process of egg formation takes about 3 days. Once fertilized, the female does not bite or feed. Its main task is to find a suitable body of water and lay eggs. Immediately begins to search for the victim, the reproduction process is repeated again. Theoretically, a mosquito bites during its life - 56 days, about 19 times. Provided that he drinks the required amount of blood in one bite.
Practical possibilities
To procreate and replenish energy reserves, mosquitoes use human blood, animals, and even birds. A mosquito senses a food source at a distance of 30 m. To meet its own needs, an insect can bite a person or animal. In the latter case, the parasite risks his life less and eats calmly. In a calm environment it takes only one bite.
As for people, one female can bite up to 15 times during the night. But in most cases this number of times is not required. A sleeping person's sensitivity threshold decreases, he does not feel pain when bitten, does not make sudden movements, and does not interfere with the meal. The female tries to drink all the amount she needs at once. If the “wrong” vessel was initially chosen, it may bite twice.
Mosquito
Mosquitoes also bite waking people; they are not frightened off by waving their arms, branches, or jumping. The victim can immediately feel the piercing pain from a mosquito bite and react instantly with a clap on the affected area. In most cases, this ends in death for the pest. If the insect has managed to hide, one mosquito can bite as much as it needs to be completely saturated.
How to protect yourself from vileness
When going for a walk along the river bank or into the forest, you should wear light, closed clothing. Dark colored fabrics attract insects. The midge is not able to bite through even thin fabric (unlike a mosquito), but can travel throughout the body for a long time in search of open areas of skin. The cuffs and collar should fit snugly to the body; it is better to tuck the trousers into socks or tie them with ties, preventing the insect from getting under the clothes. You can use mesh masks that beekeepers use, however, in hot weather they make breathing difficult, and in a crowded place they may not be clear.
You can repel insects with a special spray or cream
When choosing a repellent for protection, you need to pay attention to what insects it helps against. An aerosol or mosquito repellent cream may not cope with midges; there should be a corresponding mark on the tube
Consumers leave good reviews about the following drugs: Deta, Taiga, Moskitol, Gardex, Off.
Among folk repellents, treating clothes with water and essential oils of lemon, orange, eucalyptus, lavender, mint, cloves, geranium, and tea tree gives good results. An infusion of wormwood (100 g of crushed roots boiled for 10 minutes in a liter of water) or vanillin (a packet of seasoning for half a liter of water) will help. A few drops of aromatic oil or vanillin powder can be mixed with baby cream and applied to exposed areas of the body.
An effective and powerful means of repelling gnats is birch tar. It is mixed in a 1 to 1 ratio with vegetable oil or melted fat, and lubricated on exposed skin. You cannot leave the mixture on the body for a long time; after a few hours it should be washed off with warm soapy water.
To prevent insects from flying into the house, windows and doors should be protected with mosquito nets. You can’t do without a net even when spending the night outdoors. Nets and door frames can be sprayed with aqueous solutions of essential oils. Fresh sprigs of pyrethrum, tansy, cedar, and pine cones can be laid out on the windowsills and porch. Their smell will repel not only midges, but also flies and ants.
You can use an electric fumigator with an appropriate midge repellent. Lighting a scented candle or stick with the scent of vanilla, eucalyptus or mint will help.
What experts are talking about
People who have had malaria need to be monitored by a doctor for 24 months.
If signs of fever appear periodically, you need to get your blood tested. You may need to undergo an additional therapeutic course. It is quite easy to get rid of the risk of malaria. To do this, travelers planning to visit Africa, or any other “problem” region, need to take a course of special “anti-malarial” medications for prevention purposes.
Persons living in places of potential threat should definitely install special nets on their windows when warm days arrive. It is advisable to treat the mesh with any insecticide each time.
People going hiking should consider protecting their hands and feet. This is especially true in the evening, at night and early in the morning. Exposed parts of the body are treated with repellents.
Meeting a malaria carrier nose to nose is not so easy. During the daytime they are completely inactive and, accordingly, harmless to humans.
Experts fight mosquitoes in the spring. Near bodies of water, their larvae are usually “etched out.” The number of pests is also reduced naturally.
This is due to the fact that the main food for mosquitoes is not humans, but cattle. If the number of hosts decreases, then the mosquito population also begins to decline rapidly.
You can protect yourself from bites using personal protective equipment:
- sprays and aerosols,
- creams and gels,
- pencils,
- special bracelets.
Personal protective equipment makes the human body odor tasteless and unattractive to mosquitoes. Such preparations are applied to the skin or clothing.
In their composition they can be chemical or natural. In the first case, the following active ingredients are used:
- pyrethroids,
- carboxide,
- oxamate,
- DEET.
Herbal preparations contain a variety of essential oils and extracts that repel insects.
It is recommended to use drugs with a high degree of protection - they function for longer than 4 hours. The main disadvantage is the high concentration of chemical components. Therefore, with prolonged use, such products can significantly harm human health.
Products with a low degree of protection are allowed to be used by allergy sufferers, pregnant women and children.
In 80% of cases, sprays are used to protect against mosquitoes. They are quickly and evenly distributed over the skin. The main disadvantage is toxicity. Sensitive people may develop allergies.
Creams and gels protect against mosquitoes for 8 hours. Advantages: low cost, effective protection, cost-effectiveness. A small amount of product is enough to treat large areas of the body. Disadvantage: there is a risk of staining your clothes. Sometimes there is a feeling of stickiness on the body. If the treated area is wet, the protective properties of the drug are lost. The risk of developing allergies, including anaphylactic shock, is 20%.
Mosquitoes are very afraid of fire and smoke. In the evening, it is advisable to spend as much time as possible near the fire.
How to protect yourself
Firstly, you can use means that physically restrict access to the body - these are mosquito nets, mosquito nets, curtains and thick clothing. Secondly, insecticides fight mosquitoes, that is, substances that destroy insects and repellents that repel them. Insecticides are toxic and are not applied to the skin, but they can be used to treat premises. To spread the substance over a large area, for example, in a room, fumigators are used - ignited spirals or electrical devices with replaceable cartridges
It is important that the windows in the room are open - then insecticides will not accumulate to quantities dangerous to humans
Help for heatstroke
When encountering symptoms of heat exhaustion in yourself or someone near you, remember these simple steps:
- mandatory cessation of physical work or activity;
- it is necessary to urgently leave the stuffy and hot room or get out of the sun (into the shade, ventilated or air-conditioned room);
- it is advisable to remove clothes to reduce overheating;
- You need to put a wet towel on your forehead. This can be any cloth soaked in moderately cold water;
- You should definitely drink clean water (not mineral water or sweet soda!) This way the body will receive the right amount of moisture, and the person will be saved from dehydration. 1-2 glasses of cool water will be enough to replenish fluid deficiency;
- If you have a rehydron solution or an isotonic solution on hand, you can drink it. This will help restore metabolism and nerve functions.
If a person experiences excessive vomiting, arrhythmia and a state close to loss of consciousness, immediately call an ambulance. While the crew is on the road, you can take the same measures as for heat exhaustion. If symptoms are severe, try the following:
- collect as much ice as possible from the refrigerator, pack it in bags and cover the person with them. Packages containing all fast-frozen products are suitable as cooling agents. Wrap them in a thin sheet;
- If possible, prepare a cool bath for the victim. This helps reduce body temperature. Don't give yourself a bath: diving alone is very dangerous. The main thing is that there is someone else nearby.
Upon arrival of the team, a doctor or paramedic will assess the severity of the victim’s condition. If all measures have been taken correctly, the person will not need to be taken to the hospital. In extreme cases, the doctor prescribes a drip with saline solution, a series of routine tests and an ultrasound examination of the organs to rule out damage to them.
How much blood does a mosquito drink?
Quick answer: a mosquito drinks up to 5 mg of blood.
Did you know that mosquitoes have been known since the Cretaceous period? Currently, there are more than three thousand species of mosquitoes in the world, which are classified as 38 species. In our country, fortunately, no more than a hundred species are found.
You've probably already heard that only females bite humans. This is due to the fact that mosquitoes need blood to produce eggs.
The female lays eggs every few days, and their total number can range from 10 to up to 300 eggs. As you may have guessed, if there is no blood, then there will be no offspring for mosquitoes, although some urban species have adapted to unusual conditions and can lay eggs even without consuming blood. True, the number of eggs is very small.
Interestingly, depending on the type of mosquito, the insect needs a different amount of blood to mature the egg. For example, if one species requires 0.44 mg of blood for this, then another requires 0.65 mg. This means that with the same amount of blood, the female of different species of mosquitoes will be able to recreate a different number of eggs.
After the mosquito drinks blood, it still experiences problems with orientation in space for some time, although this problem quickly disappears.
By the way, fun fact. In order to suck all the blood out of a person, about 200 thousand mosquitoes are needed.
If a mosquito bites an infant
Usually, if a baby is bitten by a mosquito, he immediately begins to scratch the affected area. Very often, small wounds appear on the baby’s body, which over time become red, swollen and can even fester. Therefore, parents should monitor whether any spots from insect bites appear on their baby's skin.
In addition, a mosquito bite can cause a severe allergy in a baby, the manifestations of which at this age are very dangerous. There are cases where children experienced anaphylactic shock, and the nervous system was also affected, causing paralysis.
In infancy, a child is not able to drive an insect away from him, even if he sees it. Therefore, when going for a walk, a mother must constantly ensure that her child is not attacked by mosquitoes. It is advisable that the stroller be equipped with a mosquito net - in this case, you don’t have to worry at all about the baby being bitten by any insect. If a mosquito bite is detected on an infant, the following measures must be taken:
- Carefully check your baby's nails - they should be clean and trimmed. Otherwise, when scratching the wound, the child may introduce some kind of infection into it.
- Before anointing your child’s mosquito bites with brilliant green, you need to rinse them with a soda solution or cold, slightly salted water.
- An effective remedy for possible inflammation after a bite is a cut piece of aloe leaf applied to the affected area.
- If a mosquito bites a baby while walking outside, you can immediately apply a previously washed plantain leaf to the sore spot.
Mosquitoes
The deadliest animal on Earth is not a snake, a poisonous spider, a tiger or a shark, but a mosquito that carries dangerous diseases. First among them is malaria.
WHO estimates that up to 700,000 people die from malaria every year, and the number of people infected hovers around 200 million. Interestingly, the infected insects themselves do not suffer at all from the dangerous disease.
How did mosquitoes manage to gain protection?
When a malaria mosquito bites a person, plasmodia, parasitic single-celled organisms, enter the bloodstream along with saliva.
Settling in the liver, the parasites begin to multiply, forming mononuclear individuals called merozoites. After some time, merozoites enter the human blood and attach to the surface of the membranes of erythrocytes - red blood cells.
At this moment, malaria begins to manifest itself: fever, chills, and anemia appear.
But unlike humans, mosquitoes do not have red blood cells - their role is played by so-called hemocytes, which are contained in hemolymph - a colorless liquid that acts as blood.
Studies conducted on several dozen mosquitoes living in malaria-prone areas showed that hemocytes, when released into the hemolymph of parasites, secrete tiny extracellular vesicles called microvesicles. This, in turn, gives a signal to protective proteins to overcome the emerging threat.
How many mosquitoes does it take to drink all the blood from a person?
Perhaps you have heard about the terrible execution among the taiga tribes, when a guilty person was sent naked into the taiga to be eaten by mosquitoes or, tied to a tree, left to die a painful death. Or maybe in nature they were attacked by hordes of mosquitoes? One way or another, it’s interesting to know how many mosquitoes it takes for them to completely drink a person’s blood? Let's figure it out.
Authoritative sources claim that the blood volume of an adult of average height and build is 5-6 liters, so let's take the average value of 5.5 liters and build on it.
A typical mosquito can drink between 0.002 and 0.005 ml of blood at a time. In addition, this value will be influenced by how hungry the female mosquito is, and how long she can sit on the skin and practice vampirism with impunity. It is advisable to take a value of 0.003 ml of blood per mosquito. Dividing the values (5.5 liters), we get a figure equal to approximately
1,800,000 mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes do not transmit HIV infection!
At the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, there were concerns that HIV infection could be transmitted by mosquitoes, bedbugs and other blood-sucking insects.
If this mode of transmission were possible, the geographical spread of the epidemic would be completely different from that which exists now.
When a mosquito bites a person, it injects not the blood of the previous victim, but its own saliva.
Diseases such as yellow fever and malaria are transmitted by certain types of mosquitoes because the pathogens that cause these diseases can live and reproduce in their saliva.
But HIV is not able to multiply in the body of a mosquito or any other bloodsucker, therefore, even if it enters the body of an insect, it does not survive and cannot infect anyone.
In the mosquito's proboscis there is a valve-like device through which blood can only flow in one direction - inward, so that the mosquito cannot release the blood of the person it bites out.
Mosquitoes, bedbugs, lice and other insects do not carry the human immunodeficiency virus and do not get AIDS.
The largest mosquitoes in the world are representatives of the centipede mosquito species. Some specimens can reach a length of up to 10 cm, and what shocks others is not the length of their body, which remains relatively small, but the length of their legs. You should not be afraid of long-legged mosquitoes: for humans they are completely harmless and will not drink a milligram of blood.
Share with friends ;
Population and species status
Photo: Malaria mosquito
Due to its phenomenal fertility and ability to survive even in conditions extremely unfavorable for insects, the status of the Anopheles species is stable, even despite the huge number of natural enemies in their habitats. The situation may change somewhat in the near future, when the latest genetic weapons will be used in the fight against these blood-sucking creatures. When old methods of combating malaria mosquitoes are used, their population is restored in a short time, again claiming hundreds of thousands of human lives. It is not for nothing that the word “anopheles” is translated as useless or harmful, since these creatures do not bring any benefit, only causing enormous harm.
After the elimination of malaria on the territory of the USSR in the mid-20th century, all of Russia found itself outside the range of malaria. In subsequent years, only imported cases of all types of malaria from other territories were recorded. In the 90s, due to the huge migration of the population and the lack of sufficient means to combat malaria, there was a surge in incidence throughout the post-Soviet space. Later, this disease was imported from Tajikistan and Azerbaijan, where malaria epidemics occurred several times. Today the situation is favorable.
Despite the fact that the malaria mosquito mainly lives in hot countries, everyone should know the danger it poses and how to effectively protect itself from it. There are several reasons for this: firstly, due to climate change, these insects are inhabiting more and more new territories and may soon appear in the most unexpected places, and secondly, tourism to exotic countries is developing more and more actively every year.
Tags:
- Anophelinae
- Anophelini
- Antliophora
- Culicoidea
- Culicomorpha
- Panarthropoda
- Diptera
- Bilaterally symmetrical
- Long-whiskered Diptera
- Animals of Australia
- Animals of Asia
- Animals of Africa
- Swamp animals
- Animals of reservoirs
- Animals of Eurasia
- Animals of Europe
- Animals of Italy
- Meadow animals
- Animals starting with the letter K
- Animals starting with the letter M
- Animals of Russia
- Animals of the Sahara
- Animals of North America
- Animals of the Subtropical Zone of the Northern Hemisphere
- Animals of the Subtropical Zone of the Southern Hemisphere
- Animals of the Subequatorial Belt of the Northern Hemisphere
- Animals of the Subequatorial Belt of the Southern Hemisphere
- Animals of the taiga
- Animals of the tropics
- Rainforest Animals
- Rainforest Animals
- Animals of the Tropical Zone of the Northern Hemisphere
- Animals of the Tropical Zone of the Southern Hemisphere
- Animals of the Temperate Zone of the Northern Hemisphere
- Animals of the Temperate Zone of the Southern Hemisphere
- Animals of the Equatorial Belt
- Animals of South America
- Mosquitoes
- Blood-sucking mosquitoes
- Winged insects
- Shedding
- Malaria mosquitoes
- Insects with complete metamorphosis
- Unusual animals
- New-winged insects
- Nocturnal animals
- Dangerous animals
- Protostomes
- The most dangerous animals
- The most terrible animals
- Tracheal breathing
- Tropical animals
- Arthropods
- Hexapods
- Eumetazoans
Where do house flies come from and how to get rid of them?
The small black flies that so annoy housewives are extraordinary insects. The unique ability of these malicious flying creatures to appear as if out of nowhere gives them a certain mystical aura. However, the secret of the appearance of swarms of midges in hermetically sealed apartments has nothing to do with magic. Drosophila flies, of course, do not have the phenomenal gift of seeping through walls. In fact, midges end up in tightly sealed rooms along with food brought from outside, and the larvae and eggs of fruit flies can hide not only in vegetables and fruits, but also in mushrooms, cereals and garden flowers.
Each fly individual does not live long. Appearing into the world at dawn, it dies in the evening of the same day, but if there is food supply for it in the apartment, namely a supply of spoiled vegetables and fruits, the wine fly manages to lay a huge number of eggs on them within a day. Thus, the number of midges begins to increase exponentially, however, in fairness, it should be noted that in winter fruit flies do not reproduce as actively, but if you do not fight them, even in cold weather they can fill the entire house in a few days.
In addition to rotten fruits, midges love indoor flowers, or rather, the moist soil in which they grow. In addition, the proliferation of midges that have entered the house is facilitated by stagnant water in the aquarium, dampness in plumbing areas, dirt in pet cages, leaking sewer pipes, dishes that have not been washed for several days, and garbage forgotten in the kitchen.
Therefore, if you have fruit or flower flies in your home, before you start poisoning uninvited guests, try to eliminate their “tavern” first. To do this, first of all, remove all food from the table and wash dirty dishes, then inspect the refrigerator and inspect the kitchen cabinets. If you find any rotten fruits or moldy cereals there, immediately take them to the trash bin, and at the same time take with you the garbage that was left in the bucket.
When you have finished cleaning up the kitchen, to eliminate dampness, ventilate the apartment, clean the aquarium, loosen the soil in the flowerpots and drain the water from their trays.
At the end of the cleaning, vacuum the floors throughout the house and at the same time check if there is an apple core lying around in some secluded place.
Why mosquitoes don't die from overheating
Why do mosquitoes die? Videos of this process have been on the Internet for a long time. So, it’s not without reason that we cite tea as an example, because human blood is very hot tea for an insect. What is the secret of mosquitoes, because if a person drinks an entire samovar in one instant, he will immediately die from overheating.
Of course, nature has endowed us with special protection - the ability to sweat. This device helps us protect our body from overheating. Mosquitoes don't even have this. They save their body fluid and therefore evaporation from its surface does not occur.
Mosquitoes don't die from overheating - it stimulates them
The whole secret is that these insects have a certain cooling system, which is what helps them harm us every day. Nature protects even the most seemingly insignificant living organisms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45LG0qbPI9U
There is a myth that a mosquito dies after being bitten, this is not true, the photo confirms this fact. A mosquito is a fairly small insect, which is why it is sometimes so difficult to understand how valuable it is to the natural food chain. There are many ways a mosquito can die.
You most likely wondered why these insects haunt us only in the summer and spring. Of course, it's all a matter of temperature. Even though the blood of these insects is much lower than that of mammals, they cannot fully exist in cold temperatures.
How many mosquitoes does it take to drink all the blood from a person?
Mosquito biteMosquito bite
It is very difficult to answer unequivocally whether mosquitoes can bite to death. After all, it is not possible to conduct such an experiment, and the amount of blood drunk in one bite depends on many factors. Therefore, in order to have at least preliminary data, it is necessary to study in detail the volumes of bloodsuckers' meals.
What determines the volume of fluid you drink?
The female mosquito uses blood, not only from humans, but also from animals, for the purpose of being able to reproduce. She has no sense of proportion or specific needs. The duration of the meal and the amount of liquid drunk depends on its own size. The mosquito will suck blood until it completely fills its stomach.
How much does a person lose from 1 bite?
The question of how much blood a mosquito can drink has worried not only the common man, but also many scientists. To determine the approximate volume of liquid drunk, it was proposed to multiply the body weight of the insect by 2 and consider the resulting result as the norm.
Size matters and that's a fact. But don’t be afraid and imagine how much the largest mosquito drinks at a time. Karamora is not at all interested in biological fluids of either humans or animals. It leads an exclusively herbivorous lifestyle.
Can mosquitoes kill a person?
Given the lack of a sense of proportion in relation to blood in mosquitoes and the size of their population, a logical question arises whether mosquitoes will be able to suck out all the blood. Scientists seriously asked this question and compared some numbers. There is no clearly defined blood volume in the human body. This value can change either up or down.
It was generally accepted that an adult of average build has about 5 liters of biological fluid. Calculations were made based on the fact that per 1 kg of human body weight there is about 75 ml of blood.
It is not possible to accurately calculate how many mosquitoes are needed to drink all the blood from a person, so theoretical data is taken as a basis. If the average bloodsucker drinks only 5 mg of blood at a time, then it would take at least 1000 individuals to kill a person, provided that each one fills its belly completely. It is difficult to encounter such a situation in real life.
A weak human immune system can also bring death closer. It will give a strong allergic reaction to anticoagulants administered by bloodsuckers, and will provoke swelling and suffocation.
Thus, the answer to the question of whether mosquitoes can bite to death has only a speculative answer based on generally accepted facts. But even one bite will be enough to introduce a dangerous disease into the body. And it can already cause death.
What to do if you have heatstroke?
After suffering thermal exhaustion or stroke, a person remains sensitive to high temperatures for 1-2 weeks. A number of simple rules must be carefully followed:
- drink water and fresh juices hourly (2 to 4 cups), especially if there is a need for continued exposure to the sun. Sweating should be more than usual, do not allow a lack of water in the body;
- do not stay in the heat and bake from 11.00 to 15-16.00. This is the most dangerous time of the day when overheating can occur. It is recommended to temporarily exclude physical activity;
- Wear light or white colored clothing. Remember that black attracts the sun, and white, on the contrary, reflects its rays. Don't get carried away with tight and fashionable wardrobe items. Loose and light clothing will ensure effective air circulation and the body will not be subject to re-overheating;
- Always cover your head in hot weather. In extreme heat, do not wear a bandana or cap. The best option is a light wide-brimmed hat or panama hat;
- Cool down regularly under a cool shower, avoiding a critical increase in temperature;
- Try to avoid drinking coffee and alcoholic beverages. Since alcohol, coffee and even tea have a vasoconstrictor effect, this will prevent the body from sweating in time, and it will again accumulate excess heat;
- When you go to the toilet, pay attention to the color of urine and its quantity. Remember that one of the main signs of dehydration is the appearance of dark-colored urine.
Heat exhaustion and heatstroke are dangerous medical emergencies. If the warning signs of heat exhaustion are recognized early, a stroke can be prevented and this can save a person’s life.
How do they choose the victim?
Entomologists report that the chemical trail of carbon dioxide we exhale helps mosquitoes find targets up to 50 meters away. It turns out that the faster you breathe, the higher the risk of being bitten - this is why mosquitoes often bite children, pregnant women, and people with large body weight. During physical labor or sports, the breathing rate and carbon dioxide emissions also increase.
Before the mosquito sees its prey, it detects chemical signals. It is believed that the sense of smell makes the greatest contribution to the search, but in general several sensory systems are used for it: smell, vision, perception of temperature and humidity, taste. There are 72 types of olfactory receptors on a mosquito's antennae, and most of them are needed to find a source of blood. At least 27 types of these receptors are configured to detect substances that animals and people excrete in sweat.
The mosquito determines not only the location of the victim, but also its physical and chemical characteristics. A complex receptor apparatus, reading the molecules distributed by our bodies, forms a so-called odoral map in the mosquito’s brain - it contains the information about us necessary for the insect. The female mosquito “remembers” which card was most favorable for laying eggs, and gives preference to prey with similar characteristics. This is why mosquitoes bite some people more often, and others less often or almost never at all.
At a distance of about a meter from a potential victim, the mosquito begins to distinguish many parameters: skin temperature, metabolic characteristics and human microflora. There is evidence that mosquitoes are attracted to lactic acid (the level of which increases, including after physical exercise), ammonia, and acetone. It seems that alcohol in human blood is also attractive to insects.
Food preferences
Many people notice that mosquitoes can bite one person twice, bite another completely, and not touch a third at all.
Insect bites are usually located in areas not covered by clothing, a blanket, or thin fabric.
Mosquitoes are attracted by the smell of lactic acid, carbon dioxide, and heat. Children are much more likely to suffer from mosquito attacks. This is explained by thin skin, rapid metabolism with intense release of lactic acid and heat. The smells of females attract and repel
Men's cologne acts as an effective repellent, while sweet women's perfume attracts the attention of pests. More often, people who sweat a lot, suffer from hormonal disorders, and heart disease complain of mosquito bites. Attracts females due to increased levels of estrogen, testosterone, cholesterol, nonanal, steroids
At risk are pregnant women, people with diabetes, and men who play sports.
It is easier to pierce thin skin, therefore, if there is a child or adults in the house, mosquitoes give preference to the youngest member of the family. Adults may not suffer from bites at all.
How to treat bite wounds
First aid for a midge bite is to wash the affected area with cool water and plain soap. You can wipe the bite area with a cotton pad soaked in vodka or cologne. This will disinfect the wound and calm the itching.
Baking soda and salt, diluted in water (0.5 teaspoon and 0.5 tablespoon, respectively) will relieve pain and relieve swelling. If you have a lot of bites on your body, you can take a cool salt bath.
Will help relieve itching, lower temperature and reduce swelling:
- apple or wine vinegar, diluted half and half with water,
- a circle of raw potato placed on the wound,
- pulp of plantain and dandelion leaves,
- cabbage leaf
A piece of ice applied to the wound will bring relief.
The pharmacy sells special soothing (Hydrocortisone, Trimistin), antiallergic (Psilobalm, Fenistil gel) ointments that help with insect bites. The well-known Vietnamese balm “Star” will also help. The ointment should be applied to the skin around the bite, without getting into the wound.
If a child is bitten by a midge, it is better to immediately cover the wound with a bandage with a soothing ointment or compress so that the child does not scratch the bite site.
If the bite is scratched, antiseptic ointments will help: Tetracycline, Oflocaine, Levomikol. Wounds need to be treated daily: washed and lubricated with an antiseptic.
If a midge bites you in the eye, or an hour or two after the bite, the affected area becomes very swollen and the temperature rises, you need to urgently go to the hospital. Perhaps an allergic reaction has begun. It would be useful to take an antihistamine (Suprastin, Tavigil, Claritin, Kestin).
Fruit gnats are annoying tiny creatures whose presence in the house itself irritates all its inhabitants. When these little creatures, not limited to annoying flickering, begin to actively spoil food, and in addition also try to bite, the patience of the residents comes to an end, and they urgently begin to look for means to combat the annoying aliens.
Swelling, swelling, redness, temperature after a mosquito bite - what to do?
Mosquito bites are always unpleasant in their consequences. Itching, burning, swelling will continue for several days to remind you of that fateful meeting with an insect somewhere in the park, on the river bank or in the country. Young children especially often suffer from mosquito bites because they do not understand that they cannot scratch, even if they really want to. What to do if a child scratches a mosquito bite and gets an infection? Find the answer to this and other questions in the article.
What to do if there is swelling if a child scratches the wound
In many cases, mosquito bites do not cause serious consequences in children. For mild swelling, a cold compress of ice or frozen foods and topical itching medications will help. For a small child, pharmaceutical products are selected depending on the severity of the local reaction, focusing on age and the presence of various diseases in the anamnesis.
If the baby scratches the wound, breaking the top layer of skin, then this damage, like any wound, is an open gate of infection. Such scratches take a long time to heal when infected. Therefore, the most important task is primary processing. The scratching area should be disinfected with hydrogen peroxide. In order for the affected area of skin to heal faster, it should be left open after treatment with an antiseptic.
What to do if there is redness or swelling
Insect bites are characterized by the fact that poisons enter the human body. As a result of the response to their exposure, an allergic reaction of varying severity may occur. If a child has redness with a diameter of 10 cm or more from a mosquito bite, swelling and severe itching, then emergency help is needed. It consists of the following:
- apply a cold compress to the bite site for at least 10 minutes;
- apply allergy ointment (Fenistil-gel);
- Give your child an oral antihistamine (Suprastin, Tavegil).
If the swelling from a mosquito bite continues to increase after such actions, and the diameter of the redness increases, then a hormonal anti-inflammatory agent should be used. You can use Advantan or Elokom. When used externally, these ointments suppress inflammation and skin reactions, relieving itching and pain.
What to do if a child is bitten under the eye
You should especially beware of an allergic response when the insect bites your neck and face. If a child’s eye is swollen from a mosquito bite, do not immediately be alarmed. With proper treatment, swelling will go away within 3 days. On the day of the bite, you must immediately give an antiallergic drug (Suprastin), apply a cold compress, and apply an antihistamine ointment (Fenistil, Psilo-balm). Timely assistance, as a rule, eliminates a trip to the hospital. But you should monitor the child’s behavior and, if the condition worsens, consult a doctor.
What to do if you have a fever after a mosquito bite
An allergy-type reaction to a bite can be not only local, but also general. Possible symptoms that determine such a reaction include a rise in temperature from the bite. After taking antihistamines, the fever should go away. But if in addition there is severe itching all over the body, swelling of the mucous membranes and skin, headache, difficulty breathing, then this is a reason to seek help from a medical facility.
If after a collision with an insect the child has already had a severe local or general allergic reaction and the mosquito bites again, there is no need to wait for the bite site to swell, but to act immediately.
Parents should know how to help their child, since encounters with bloodsuckers can cause him quite a lot of trouble.
How does reproduction occur?
The ability to reproduce in females appears already 3-4 days after transformation into an adult. From this time on, she can enter into a relationship with a male. After this, she needs protein and begins the search for a victim.
Special antennas help mosquitoes catch the smell of a food source. The radius of action is about 1 km. Bloodsuckers find their prey based on the following signs:
- Warm.
- The smell of sweat.
- Carbon dioxide, which is released during respiration.
Description of the process of how a mosquito drinks blood:
- After finding the victim, the insect selects a place to bite. It should be warm, pulsating and thin-skinned.
- Then, using her proboscis, the female pierces the human epidermis and immediately starts salivating. It contains a special substance that prevents rapid clotting and makes it possible to finish the meal. The same enzyme provokes an allergic reaction to a mosquito bite, the appearance of blisters, redness and swelling.
- It is impossible to determine exactly when a mosquito has drunk blood, since the female will eat as much as she can.
- After being bitten, female mosquitoes go to look for a place to lay eggs and reproduce.
Mosquitoes drink blood
On average, a mosquito leaves about 200 eggs per clutch. But reproduction is also possible with a bloodless diet of dipterans. In this case, the number of eggs is reduced to 40, the offspring are weak and few survive to the adult stage, dying while still in the larval stage. The female herself suffers. After all, to lay eggs she has to spend her own protein reserves. Therefore, the bloodsucker often dies after this.
The need for human blood for mosquito populations
Some insects use human blood as their main source of nutrition. The mosquito is one of the most annoying parasites of this species. With its buzzing and itchy bites, it can ruin any vacation. Some people are interested in why mosquitoes drink human blood. It is necessary for the insect in order to breed offspring.
How does a mosquito use the blood it sucks?
Human blood contains large quantities of nutrients, mainly protein. Only female mosquitoes drink it to lay eggs. Males feed on flower sap, drink nectar and eat pollen. This diet does not contain protein, but provides enough carbohydrates to renew energy.
Unlike other dipterans, which lay eggs once in a lifetime, mosquitoes, thanks to human blood, “delight” with their offspring more than once. The number of clutches depends on how often the female drank the coveted liquid and how much she managed to suck at one time. Many have observed how a mosquito, if not driven away, drinks more blood than it weighs.
If there is nowhere to get blood, then females, like males, switch to plant foods. Some species lay eggs in this case as well. Deprived of protein, the female takes the required amount from her own body, and then, like a butterfly, dies after laying.
Types of bloodsuckers
Mosquitoes are found on all continents of the Earth except Antarctica. Their family includes about 3000 species. Some of them drink the blood of only one type of animal, others attack everyone they meet nearby. There are mosquitoes that drink frog blood and attack fish (mudskippers that come onto land). In the tropics there live insects that attack caterpillars and feed on their lymph. But the majority of bloodsuckers prefer warm-blooded animals: mammals and birds.
The most common mosquito in the world is the common mosquito, which drinks human blood. It spread across the globe thanks to people who transported mosquito larvae and eggs in the holds of ships and barrels of water during sea voyages.
The mosquito finds the victim with the help of two sensitive antennae that it has. It accurately determines the location of the power source by thermal radiation, carbon dioxide released and lactic acid contained in sweat.
A victim located in one place is literally shrouded in such a cloud, so mosquitoes are less likely to attack those who move. But you shouldn’t wave your arms and jump to disperse the parasites. In this case, the clouds of gas thicken, and mosquitoes rush from everywhere to the victim. Parasites also react to the smell of blood, so you should not scratch the bitten areas.
How parasites obtain blood
A mosquito is an insect with a yellow or gray body, 4 to 14 mm long, and transparent wings. Its abdomen is made up of 10 segments, and its paws are equipped with claws. The insect has a mouthparts with a proboscis, while the female has piercing setae. With its sharp jaws, the mosquito pierces a hole in the skin and sucks blood from it through its proboscis. To prevent the fluid from coagulating, the parasite injects an anticoagulant under the skin, which causes burning, itching and swelling.
In temperate climates, mosquitoes live from May to October. Some species hibernate, after wintering they lay eggs and live for another 2 months. Insects have four stages of development: egg, larva, pupa, adult. The first three stages live in water. The larvae (bloodworms) serve as food for fish.
Why do bites itch and what to do?
Before the female mosquito begins to drink blood, she injects saliva into the skin containing painkillers and anticoagulants that prevent blood clotting. These foreign proteins cause itching, swelling and redness. The usual reaction to a mosquito bite is an immediate blister and redness that reaches its maximum after about twenty minutes. Then, within a day and a half, an itchy papule appears, and within seven to ten days it disappears. In most cases, mosquito bites are not dangerous, although they can cause discomfort. But there are exceptions.
An allergy to mosquito bites, or skeeter syndrome, can manifest as severe itching and pain at the site of the bite, a large blister that sometimes grows and turns into a spot. Reactions such as nausea and vomiting, up to fever, anaphylactic shock and loss of consciousness are also possible.
Signs of Heat Stroke
If heat exhaustion cannot be recognized, even more dangerous symptoms appear that characterize heat stroke:
- temperature rise to 39-40 0C or more;
- difficulty breathing;
- severe vomiting;
- ari nervous activity.
This condition can cause serious damage to organs (especially the heart and kidneys). Help must be provided quickly - and it is advisable not to miss thermal exhaustion, in which it is much easier to help a person.
Top 10 interesting facts about mosquitoes and mosquitoes
There is no malaria mosquito in Ukraine. Only females of most mosquitoes drink blood
At the same time, everyone, without exception, feeds on the nectar of flowering plants. Mosquitoes drink blood to produce eggs, so their laying cycle is directly dependent on blood consumption. Females can lay up to 300 eggs at a time
During the mating period, female mosquitoes attract the attention of males with a characteristic subtle sound, reminiscent of a squeak, which is created with the help of their wings. Mosquitoes appeared more than 175 million
years ago, back in the age of dinosaurs
Birds, amphibians, bats, wild plants, aquatic turtles, small mammals and others feed on mosquitoes. According to statistics, mosquitoes bite blondes more often than brunettes. According to researchers, mosquitoes are much more active during the full moon. There are over 3 thousand species of mosquitoes in the world. Mosquitoes live on every continent except Antarctica. Some types of mosquitoes feed on fish blood. Before drinking blood, the female mosquito secretes saliva into the victim's skin to prevent the blood from clotting; it is this saliva that causes redness, itching, an allergic reaction or swelling. A mosquito flaps its wings at speeds of up to 600 times per second. Mosquitoes do not like the smell of tomato tops, fresh walnut leaves, basil flowers, bird cherry, elderberry branches, wheatgrass, anise, cloves, valerian, eucalyptus, lavender, thyme, geranium, mint, cedar oil, birch bark tar. When choosing a victim, the female blood-sucking mosquito is guided by carbon dioxide exhaled by a person, thermal radiation, movement, and also the smell of lactic acid contained in sweat. An experiment in the Canadian tundra showed that people with bare arms, legs and torso received 9,000 bites from young mosquitoes per minute. At this rate, a person can lose half their blood in two hours. Theoretically, 1,200,000 mosquitoes are enough to drink all the blood from a person. The most “tasty” blood for mosquitoes is found in people with the first and second blood groups, as well as children. The eyes occupy most of the mosquito's head. They see in infrared light, which makes it possible to freely find warm-blooded prey in complete darkness. Do not scratch the bitten area, it is better to moisten it with alcohol - this will quickly relieve the pain.
For more information on how the mosquito bite process occurs, watch the video:
Let us remind you that 5.ua previously reported that the photographer showed amazing photographs of domestic insects.
