Mosquito-borne Diseases and Vector Control

Mosquito-borne diseases are a significant public health concern worldwide, with most of the pathogens being viruses such as flaviviridae and togaviridae, except for malaria, caused by plasmodium species.

While yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis virus have effective vaccines, diseases such as West Nile Virus, Dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya have no effective vaccine or treatment, making vector control crucial to reducing their transmission. Mosquitoes belong to the Culicidae family, with the Toxorhynchitinae subfamily having no medical importance for disease transmission, while Culicinae contains Aedes and Culex, which transmit different diseases globally. The Anophelinae subfamily contains Anopheles, the vector for malaria transmission.

Review Questions:

• Which mosquito-borne diseases have effective vaccines, and which ones do not?
• What are the different subfamilies of the Culicidae family, and which ones have medical importance?
• What is the most important infectious disease in the world, and what is its pathogen?
• Which mosquito-borne disease has become dominant in North America, and what are its clinical symptoms?
• What are the three diseases transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, and what are their clinical outcomes?