Public Enemy No.1 The monsoons are here. There is a buzz in the air, of renewed life and...and...SPLLAAATTH. Damn these millions of nasty little mosquitoes! Creatures that can kill. Most of us have suffered from malaria surely, if not the more dreaded dengue, sometimes in our lives. All thanks to this tiny terrorist.In fact, prevention is the best cure in this case. Let’s find out more about this enemy of ours and discover new attack strategies to beat it at its game.GT investigates.

I hate these flying creatures", screamed Sharda’s mother. "Ramu, get me the spray can! Sharda, close all windows and doors and get out for a while. Ramu, hurry!" The yelling continued for a while but everyone seemed quite used to it as this apparently is an usual evening at the Duttas’ residence. The spray can was out in a jiffy and Sharda’s mom dressed up like a masked militant, went about killing the flying creatures, with as much zeal as the terrorist she resembled.

The flying creatures here are none other than the public enemy no. 1, the pesky, stingy, buzzy and bloody mosquito (insults intended).

The bad thing about a mosquito is that it not only flies and makes buzzing noises just beside our ears when we are trying to sleep, but it also BITES!! You splat it and it becomes a bloody affair. If this was not enough, it spreads a lot of awful diseases as well; I mean, who does not know about malaria, dengue and filaria? A tiny mosquito can kill people! Getting paranoid? Should be! Why doesn’t the health ministry just order spraying of ‘mosquitocides’ by helicopters, why aren’t Baygon spray cans distributed free to all of us? Someone just rid the world of these mosquitoes!!

But...wait a minute, how come there are so many of these terrifying creatures at Sharda’s house? Has it got to do something with the big, black uncovered drain that passes just in front of it? Also, maybe, we are not following the right attack tactic. I once accidently sprayed some insecticide onto my precious money plant and it turned yellow, shriveled, and died! Why should we kill ourselves while trying to chase away this tiny insect? And if you have noticed it, they don’t even seem to mind the spray after a few days. Can't we do something more permanent and safe?

Come to think of it, the area around Anwar’s house has almost no mosquitoes. And no mosquitoes mean no malaria, right? A couple of years back, Anwar’s father, along with all the other people in their locality, had got all their drains covered, filled up all pits in the area, and released fish in the ponds behind their homes. Should this give us a clue? Let’s check it out...

KNOW YOUR MOSQUITO!

A mosquito by any name... The Spanish called them, "musketas,", the native Hispanic Americans "zancudos." "Musketas" is a Spanish word meaning "little fly" while "zancudos," means "long-legged." Scandanavians called them by a variety of names including "myg" and "myyga" while the Greeks called them "konopus." The use of the word "mosquito" is apparently of North American origin and dates back to about 1583. In Europe, mosquitoes were called "gnats" by the English, "Les moucherons" or "Les cousins" by French writers, and the Germans used the name "Stechmucken" or "Schnacke." In 300 BC, Aristotle referred to mosquitoes as "empis" in his Historia Animalium where he documented their life cycle.

ENEMY STRENGTH
About 2,700 species of mosquitoes are present on earth out of which over 50 are resistant to at least one insecticide. They can whiz past you at an estimated 1 to 1.5 miles per hour and can fly pretty long distances. For instances, salt marsh mosquitoes migrate 75 to 100 miles. The enemy also has strong smelling powers and can also smell you from 20 to 35 metres away!! It can lay eggs practically anywhere where there’s one inch deep water, that’s semi-still.

ENEMY DESCRIPTION
Mosquitoes have two wings with scales. Mouthparts in female form a long piercing-sucking proboscis. Males have feathery antennae. Their mouthparts are not suitable for piercing skin. They survive on plant juices.

ENEMY   PREFERENCES
It is suggested that they have a preference for females, soft skin, dark colours and carbon dioxide! Pregnant women are among favourites.

HOW TO HANDLE POWs
Cut the sensory nerve in the mosquito’s stomach, and it will keep on sucking blood until it bursts.

EGG

 LARVA
Out of the eggs come out the wrigglers (larvae). Larvae of all mosquitoes live in water and have 4 developmental periods or instars. At the end of each instar, the larva sheds its skin by a process called moulting. Most larval species possess an air tube. If the surface of water is covered, the larvae die as they are not able to breathe.

 PUPA
Unlike most other insects, the mosquito pupa is very active and lives in water. This stage lasts only for a few days. Feeding does not take place during the pupal stage.

 ADULT
The pupal skin splits and the adult insect emerges and flies away. Mating soon follows. The female normally takes its first blood meal after mating and then develops its first batch of eggs.

THE   MOSQUITO KNOWS by D.H. Lawrence
The mosquito knows full well, small as he is, he’s a beast of prey. But after all he only takes his bellyful, he doesn’t put my blood in the bank.

Biting Habits Most anopheles mosquitoes (which cause malaria) bite during the night, some at sunset, others around midnight. Aedes mosquitoes (which cause dengue) bite during the day. Some enter houses to bite, while others usually bite outdoors. After biting, mosquitoes usually rest for a short period. Indoor-biting mosquitoes frequently rest on a wall, under furniture or on hanging clothes. Mosquitoes that bite outdoors may rest on plants, in dark holes in the ground, or in other cool dark places. Mosquitoes may bite both people and animals. Some prefer to take blood from humans (anthropophillic), others take only animal blood (zoophillic). Clearly, those that prefer human blood are the more dangerous as they are more likely to transmit diseases, notably malaria.

CULEX Usually harmless but some species cause filaria and encephalitis. The commonest of the three. It is the one who buzzes in our ears every night as we try to fall asleep. It is big and fat and doesn’t give up until it’s full of blood. A dirty and crude fellow, it lives and breeds in unclean sewers and drains.

ANOPHELES It transmits malaria. It is recognised by the ‘tail in the air’ posture. It chooses hosts by the way they smell. It is pretty clean in its habits and breed in overhead tanks, stored water and rain collection. Anopheles bite during the evenings and night.

AEDES
The vector for deadly Dengue.
The choosiest of the lot. Flourishing in an urban environment, it breeds only in clean water, and can be found inside desert coolers, bottles, used tyres and other objects that can retain water. It is believed to have originated in Africa as a ‘tree-hole’ mosquito, breeding in temporary puddles of water left over after the rains. About 2 to 2.5 milligrams in weight, Aedes is a day-biter unlike the other two. Aedes mosquito is attracted by the smell of armpit sweat and sucks about 5-millionths of a litre per ‘serving’. It also transmits Yellow Fever. The Aedes mosquito needs warm weather. It cannot withstand temperatures below 9o C, and will die after less than an hour at 0o C.