Mosquitoes shape history

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Among the insects is the Ferrari – the mosquito: sleek in shape like an Italian Formula 1 machine, buzzing like this at full speed at high speed and disappearing as soon as you notice it. A casual bowtie, on the other hand, has an Opel flair in it, and a buzzing bumblebee radiates the charm of a Rolls-Royce.

But most people would rather see the Ferrari red bloodstain slapped on the wall than the graceful flight of the mosquito, because the mosquito is one of the most hated insects. People probably don’t kill any animal other than sharks more often out of sheer murderous desire. However, predatory fish devour about ten people a year, while mosquito bites an average of 725,000 people.

Mosquito is the most dangerous animal in the world. An elephant made from a mosquito? Not at all: the size of the proboscis beetle is much larger than that of the gray proboscis beetle. For comparison: 100 die each year from elephants and lions, 500 from hippos, 1,000 from crocodiles, and 50,000 from snakes. And humans kill fewer people than mosquitoes: an average of 475,000 a year worldwide.

Two to ten millimeters in size, two to two and a half milligrams in weight: “The mosquito, which at first glance seems inconspicuous, is responsible for an impressive number of deaths,” says Swiss biologist Daniel Cherix (73). He curated the Zoological Museum in Lausanne and is now professor emeritus at the university there. As part of the Swiss mosquito net, it is also responsible for tracking the tiger mosquito in French-speaking Switzerland.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that tiger mosquitoes infect between 50 and 100 million people each year with dengue fever. It is one of three exotic mosquito species introduced to Switzerland. As a result of global warming, such dangerous insects are moving further north. Last year, news in Switzerland caused a sensation that some specimens survived winter on the northern side of the Alps for the first time.

“Flying is a significant advantage for insects,” says Cherix. “Flying allows you to conquer new territories, escape a predator, and find new resources.” However, tiger mosquitoes fly very little and badly. It’s even more surprising how they span tens of kilometers in Switzerland each year: “Using cars and trucks as means of transport.” They are usually transported on used car tires for long distances. This is how the tiger mosquito came to Italy from the USA in 1990.

Mosquitoes now live all over the world – with the exception of Iceland, Antarctica, and some oceanic islands. “There are more than 3,500 species of mosquitoes on the planet,” says Cherix. “35 species are endemic to Switzerland.” The biologist doesn’t want to measure the total number of mosquitoes, “c’est impossible”. Canadian military historian Timothy C. Winegard, 44, finds succinct words in the German-language New York Times bestseller Die Mücke: “A swarming and bloodthirsty army of 110 trillion enemy mosquitoes patrols every square inch of the earth. “

Only females are bloodthirsty. Males feed only on nectar. Winegard: “Your whole world revolves around two things: nectar and sex.” After the female flies through the clouds of dancing males, often seen on river and lake shores on summer evenings, the eggs are fertilized – and now maturation requires proteins and iron from the blood of warm-blooded animals: the victim’s breath tells the female the way. Cleanse with a smooth landing on the skin and penetrating-absorbent body. The mosquito injects its saliva through one channel and sucks it through the other channel so that the blood does not clot.

A trifle in itself an itchy red spot on the skin – if the mosquito is not random, namely: it moves from person to animal and freely sucks blood everywhere. Because as soon as the mosquito touches a feverish person, it picks up viruses, bacteria, plasmodies or parasitic worms and passes the pathogens to the next victim via saliva without harming the insect.

Even when taking blood – two to three times body weight! – he would have to die from the heat, because in a short time the temperature inside would rise to 35 degrees Celsius above ambient temperature, and even higher if his blood was hot. But the clever bug reacts with tricks: as soon as the red liquid enters the proboscis, a heat protein is formed to protect its delicate digestive enzymes; and for further cooling the mosquito releases some blood or urine – the drop evaporates and cools it from behind.

“The mosquito is not only an incredibly adaptable creature, but also an extremely narcissistic creature,” writes historian Winegard, somewhat pejoratively. “Unlike other insects, it doesn’t pollinate plants, loosen soil or feed on waste.” The mosquito is close to the ground only when it rains. But even then it can fly because it doesn’t get wet. Colliding with a raindrop is similar to a human crashing into a bus, but the insect deviates only briefly from its trajectory, stands up, and aims at the next victim.

The delicate mosquito is tough, and even harder: it transmits 15 diseases. The best known are yellow fever, dengue fever, and Zika fever, but by far the most common is malaria. Until the late 19th century, people believed that this contagious disease was caused by rotting waste and toxic gases rising from stagnant water and swamps. Hence the Italian expression “mal aria” for “bad weather”.

In fact, malaria comes from such wetlands, not because of bad weather, but because they are breeding grounds for disease-carrying insects such as the tiger mosquito. “In summer, the tiger mosquito develops from egg to insect in five to seven days,” says biologist Cherix. Females live a little over two months, males two to three weeks. “Each female lays 250 eggs in her lifetime,” she says. “You can quickly reach thousands or even millions of mosquitoes.”

“Legions of deadly mosquitoes destined for rival armies live in the swamps around Rome,” Winegard writes in her book. “Whether in the Punic Wars or Winegard II shows how mosquitoes prevented Hannibal and his elephants from advancing to Rome in the Second Punic War (218-202 BC). “The mosquitoes made a decisive contribution to defending Rome against Hannibal and his troops. “This laid the foundation for the rise of the Roman Empire and its dominance in the Mediterranean region and beyond.”

From the ancient Greek wars to the Christian Crusades in the Middle Ages to the 19th century colonization of Cuba by the United States: the mosquito with its small bites always puts a big hit. For example, when Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) conquered America, he unknowingly had mosquitoes with him. Winegard: “Unintentional biological warfare through creeping alien infection has shaken the continent to its foundations and swept away the indigenous population in record time.”

But the mosquito doesn’t take sides and can do good, too. According to Winegard, it was he who supported the abolition of slavery in the American Civil War (1861-1865). In 1862, Union troops under Commander Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) were so weakened by malaria that they were rendered useless; Lincoln and his advisers agree on a new course of action: a policy of complete destruction of Confederate forces and the forced surrender of the South by starvation. “Here, the path to the goal was the abolition of slavery, aimed at undermining the economy and the war effort.” successfully.

At one time in human history, malaria was a cure-all for another disease: In 1917, Austrian psychiatrist Julius Wagner-Jauregg (1857-1940) used the single-celled parasite in mosquitoes to treat syphilis. Purpose: to trigger fever attacks up to 42 degrees Celsius in malaria, so that the heat sensitive bacteria of the sexually transmitted disease die. And it works: “Patients replaced certain, painful death from syphilis with malaria, which was the lesser of two evils in this case,” she says. “Mosquitoes were now killers and saviors at the same time.”

But the mosquito’s high flight did not last long: the discovery of the antibiotic penicillin in 1928 made the treatment of malaria unnecessary, and the insecticide DDT, developed in Switzerland in 1939, was the first time the mosquito was completely combated. With deadly consequences for nature, as the US biologist Rachel Carson (1907-1964) put it in her 1962 bestselling book “Silent Spring”: “The seldom mentioned but publicly visible truth is that nature does not transform itself so quickly. . easily and let the insects find ways to thwart our chemical attacks.” The beginning of the modern environmental movement.

The use of DDT has been banned in Switzerland since 1972. For this, other means are used that increase the current insect mortality. “And mosquitoes have now become resistant,” says Cherix. Currently, pesticides are not that effective or even dangerous, so people stopped using them. “Other techniques under development, such as irradiating and sterilizing men, are making only very small progress.” So slapping a mosquito against a wall with your hand still requires brute force.

Timothy C. Winegard, “The Mosquito – the most dangerous animal on earth and in human history”, Terra Mater

Source : Blick

Malan

I am Dawid Malan, a news reporter for 24 Instant News. I specialize in celebrity and entertainment news, writing stories that capture the attention of readers from all walks of life. My work has been featured in some of the world’s leading publications and I am passionate about delivering quality content to my readers.