august 20 is world mosquito day, which serves as a timely reminder for canadians to take precautions when traveling to regions where mosquito-borne diseases are prevalent.
this day honors the british doctor sir ronald ross. in 1897, he made the groundbreaking discovery that female mosquitoes are responsible for transmitting malaria between humans. ross won the nobel prize for physiology or medicine in 1902, and his legendary finding has since highlighted the critical need for measures to help prevent mosquito-borne diseases.
while mosquito bites are most often a harmless nuisance, mosquitoes that carry bacteria, viruses and parasites can cause serious health problems. when a mosquito feeds on blood, it also swallows any pathogens living in the blood. these pathogens can be transferred to the next person the mosquito bites through its saliva. any disease that is spread in this way from mosquito to human (or animal) is known as a “mosquito-borne disease.”
mosquito-borne diseases affect up to 700 million people each year
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. common types of mosquito-borne diseases include malaria, dengue, west nile virus, chikungunya, yellow fever and zika.
while most of these diseases are more common in tropical and subtropical regions, there is a risk of exposure that exists for canadians traveling abroad, and even locally. with rising temperatures and increased rainfall due to climate change, mosquito-borne diseases are spreading to previously unaffected areas, notably establishing themselves further in the u.s. and northwards
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