Pesky Mosquitos Essay

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Table of Contents Table of Contents | 2 | Research Paper | 3 | References | 4 | | | RESEARCH PAPER When one thinks of mosquitos, they think of tiny little creatures that go around sucking up blood and leaving itchy bumps on the skin. But, mosquitos also carry a certain disease, which can be deadly in rare cases. Malaria is an infectious, mosquito-borne disease that can be given to both humans and other animals like birds and reptiles. When an infected female mosquito injects its saliva into the bloodstream of another animal, the organism found in it is spread through the body of the victim. The organism is part of the genus “Plasmodium”. There are actually five species of Plasmodium that cause malaria in humans. P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae are rarely lethal to humans, but P. falciparum and P. knowlesi are can be very severe. Malaria is common in tropical and subtropical regions around the equator. The reason for this is because in those areas, there is frequent rainfall and lots of still water where mosquitos tend to lay eggs. Although there is no cure to malaria, there are some drugs that can be used to prevent it from spreading too much. Chloroquine, Malarone, Coartem, and Lariam are some of the prescription drugs sold in the United States that help prevent the spread of malaria in the body. Other ways to prevent malaria is to avoid mosquito bites. This can be achieved by using mosquito nets, (which are used to cover a bed so that no insects may penetrate) or using insect repellants. A way to protect large areas would be to drain out still water. Since mosquitos tend to stay near mating areas, that would be the best fix. The life cycle of the Plasmodium microorganisms is very interesting. It starts out as a few cells in a host mosquito. When the mosquito transmits an infective form of the Plasmodium into another organism (like humans), the

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