In 2008 malaria alone killed 781,000 people according to a study by the World Health Organization(WHO). Malaria is transmitted through the bites of infected Anopheles mosquitoes and kills more people each year than any other parasite or virus. Other mosquito-transmitted diseases that have had effects on human populations include West Nile fever, yellow fever, Rift Valley fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever, and filariasis.
The WHO study also stated that malaria was responsible for nearly one-half of all child deaths in sub-Saharan Africa and for killing an estimated 2.7 million children under five years old between 2000 and 2013. In addition to malaria, there are many other fatal diseases spread by mosquitoes that are also leading causes of death in underdeveloped nations around the world.
“Malaria has been killing people for thousands of years, and malaria parasites resistant to every antimalarial drug we have are now spreading across Southeast Asia from their origins in Burma,” said malaria researcher James Childs at Yale University. The WHO study also stated that malaria parasites resistant to artemisinin drugs were detected on the borders between Thailand and Cambodia. Artemisinin is currently one of the most effective malaria treatments available to humans but growing resistance could mean malaria may soon be untreatable as scientists are running out of effective options for new drugs.
According to the CDC, Anopheles mosquitoes can be found throughout many tropical and subtropical regions around the world.
“Most malaria-transmitting mosquito species are found in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America,” according to the CDC.
In addition to malaria, mosquitoes can also transmit other deadly diseases that are causing high fatality rates around the world such as Rift Valley fever which in severe cases can cause blindness or hemorrhagic symptoms, and Dengue which causes flu-like symptoms that can sometimes develop into a lethal hemorrhagic fever.
A study released by WHO stated that there were an estimated 2 million cases of malaria each year within Europe with 90% occurring in sub-Saharan African countries with many people traveling between malaria-affected regions and European destinations for business or on holiday trips resulting in infections brought back into non-endemic areas.
“The malaria parasite is carried by female Anopheles mosquitoes which mainly feed on humans,” said malaria researcher James Childs at Yale University. “Anopheles mosquitos are known to have expanded their range into parts of Russia, China, and the USA where malaria had been eradicated but we’re concerned that the malaria parasite itself could be imported from Africa into Europe in these travelers returning home if they haven’t taken antimalarial drugs,” he added. “[Even though infections wouldn’t last for very long without a constant supply of new malaria parasites being brought back by new travelers] it’s still a major concern.”
Mosquitoes also carry and transmit other diseases, such as Dengue fever. Dengue fever is a disease that causes flu-like symptoms and occasionally leads to the potentially lethal hemorrhagic form of Dengue. “Dengue Fever has been reported in India,” according to Dr. James Hodge, a malaria researcher at The Rockefeller University in New York. According to WHO Dengue fever is endemic throughout most regions of the world with about 390 million cases diagnosed per year resulting in nearly 25,000 deaths worldwide mostly among children under 15 years old.
“Mosquitoes are more dangerous than you think because malaria isn’t the only thing they can spread or transmit,” said malaria researcher James Childs at Yale University. “We’ve discovered that malaria parasites resistant to artemisinin drugs have appeared in Southeast Asia but we’re also looking at the spread and prevalence of malaria parasites resistant to mefloquine drugs which have been reported in Africa recently,” he added.
“Mefloquine is used as prophylactic malaria drug along with other malaria treatments but malaria parasites resistant to all antimalarials are now spreading across Southeast Asia from Burma into Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam,” said malaria researcher James Childs at Yale University. He then went on to explain that when malaria becomes resistant it would become almost untreatable and potentially more dangerous than Ebola pointing out that malaria only affected humans while Ebola had a potential for direct human-to-human transmission through body fluids forcing both the patient and medical staff to wear full protective ‘space age’ suits when malaria can still only be transmitted by mosquitoes.
“We need to encourage more people to protect themselves from malaria and use appropriate malaria prevention measures, such as repellents containing DEET or blocking bed nets impregnated with an insecticide like permethrin, in malaria vulnerable areas,” said malaria researcher Humberto Andrade at WHO headquarters in Geneva. “And we also urgently need to speed up the development process of new drugs capable of treating malaria parasites resistant to artemisinin-type drugs and mefloquine medication,” he added.