The mosquito is the world’s deadliest animal, responsible for the death of more than 725,000 people each year compared to the 50,000 deaths caused by snakes or just 10 people killed by sharks.
In fact, its power lies in the ability to transmit disease: malaria, transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito, kills 400,000 people (mainly children) each year and incapacitates more than 200 million for several days .
Almost ubiquitous
There are more than 2,500 species of mosquitoes and these animals are found in all regions of the planet with the exception of Antarctica.
As Krijn Paaijmans , an entomologist at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), points out, mosquitoes adapt easily to everything and are difficult to eradicate. Paaijmans is also part of a great team that works at MALTEM , a project funded by Obra Social “la Caixa” and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose objective is to stop the transmission of malaria in the district of Magude, in the south from Mozambique, in 2020.
Paaijmans’ team is developing electromagnetic barriers that repel mosquitoes , while Carlos Chaccour’s team, also from ISGlobal, is focused on ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug that kills mosquitoes that feed on treated animals or individuals. On the other hand, anti-mosquito ultrasound devices should be withdrawn from the market.
But mosquitoes do good deeds too , even if unconsciously. Eggs and larvae are part of the diet of some fish, they pollinate certain flowers and serve as "transport" for bacteria and viruses. Without mosquitoes, the food chain would falter.