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| Asian Tiger Mosquito |
The Asian tiger mosquito, named for its distinctive stripes and aggressive nature, is resilient, smart, has a taste for human blood, and is on the brink of taking over the world.
The mosquito (aedes albopictus), which can infect those it bites with more than 20 different diseases, originates from south-east Asia, but it has already made a home in Africa, South and Central America, much of the USA, and some parts of Europe.
One of the only places not yet infested is Australia, though a recent finding of the Asian tiger mosquito in the Torres Strait islands, to the north of the country, suggests world domination is inevitable.
Mosquitos are generally regarded as pests, but this species is particularly unpleasant.
Unlike its more common cousins, the Asian tiger mosquito does not need tropical conditions to survive, but thrives in temperate climates and urban environments.
It also bites all throughout the day, not just at dawn and dusk, the traditional feeding times of the mosquito.
While other mosquitos will eat until they are full, making them easier to swat and kill, the Asian tiger mosquito stays on the skin for only a few seconds before darting out of reach, and can bite 50 times in the space of 15 to 20 minutes.
On top of this, the Asian tiger mosquito has a particular fondness for human blood.
‘Unlike a lot of other mosquitos… which for the most part don’t have an appetite for humans – they just eat us because we’re around – the Asian tiger mosquito seems to have a taste for humans,’ said Dr Cameron Webb, a clinical lecturer in medical entomology at Westmead Hospital and the University of Sydney.
Perhaps most worryingly, the mosquito can carry dengue fever, yellow fever, West Nile fever, two types of encephalitis and Chikungunya virus.
The Chikungunya virus – symptoms of which include high fever, severe joint pain, neuralgia, migraines and in severe cases, death – was relatively rare until a decade ago. Its resurgence is largely due to the global spread of the Asian tiger mosquito.
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| The Asian Tiger Mosquito is more deadly than it's other cousins |
As well as being the carrier of many deadly pathogens, Dr Webb says the mosquito, whose bite is quite painful, is ‘a significant nuisance.’
The presence of these mosquitos in a neighbourhood often spells the end of BBQ culture and outdoor activities, and in some cases has led to parents not letting their children go outside to play, said Dr Webb.The species, which is ranked fourth on the Global Invasive Species Database's list of the World's 100 Worst Invasive Alien Species, has expanded out of Asia, into much of the world through the movement of humans and their belongings around the globe.
‘The mosquito is one of the most successful hitchhikers we have,’ said Dr Webb. ‘It takes advantage of globalisation and the cheap movement of humans around the world.’
The Asian tiger mosquito, which arrived in the US in the mid-1980s in a shipment of used tyres from Asia, can now be found in 26 US states, mostly in the north-east and along the west coast of the country.
It looks as though the area of the US inhabited by the deadly creatures is only going to increase, says Prof William Walton, Vice chairman of the Entomology department University of California, Riverside.
‘The bottom line is, as the climate warms you can expect the range of these mosquitos to expand,’ he told MailOnline.
The amount of land in the US infested by the mosquitos is projected to triple in the next two decades, according to an article published in the scientific journal, PLOS ONE, last year.
By the end of the century, the infested area will encompass all major urban centres in the US north-east, placing more than 30million people under threat of diseases carried by the insect.
The Asian tiger mosquito certainly has travelled a long way from its original rainforest home in south-east Asia. Due to the fact the species can survive in temperate climates, it has spread to some surprising parts of the world.
‘The most famous area is Italy,’ said Dr Webb. ‘You don’t think about Italy as an area where you’ll get mosquito-borne disease, but the [Asian tiger] mosquito has contributed to some small outbreaks of Chikungunya virus in the country.’
It is quite baffling, says Dr Webb, ‘when you’re thinking about the possibility that this mosquito could spread dengue virus in New York, which is under six foot of snow at the moment.’
There is some hope that genetically-modified mosquitos might provide an answer.
The proposed solutions involve genetically-modified male mosquitos (the males do not bite) being released to breed with the ‘wild’ females. The males are either sterile or pass on a defect to the offspring.
Dr Walton says such methods are ‘interesting and show some promise,’ but adds that ‘the proof is in the pudding.’
Dr Webb is more sceptical.
‘There are quite a few of these high tech solutions out there, which are put forward as being a bit of a silver bullet… All of these projects have great potential and often have great results in the laboratory, but until you’ve get results from the field application of this technology, it’s hard to make assessments about how effective these strategies are going to be,’ he said.
A more effective solution, he says, is educating members of the public who are traveling to infected regions, enforcing strict rules regarding importation, and educating people about reducing the number of the bodies of water on their property, so as to provide fewer mosquito breeding grounds.
Source : Daily Mail
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