Insects as Carrier of Diseases of Human Beings | Wandofknowledge
A number of insects are known to transmit the germs of different diseases in human being as mechanical vectors but many insects act as secondary host of the germs of human diseases.
- Housefly : It is most common vector of the germs causing disease in human beings. It has been observed that there is a correlation between the increase in fly menace and the peak season of trachoma infection. Flies are the carrier of the germs of typhoid and virus of infantile paralysis.
- Tse-tse fly (Glossina): It is the carrier of Trypanosoma species causing sleeping sickness in man.
- Sand fly (Phlebotomus): It is vector of Leishmania species causing oriental sore, Espundia and kala-azar.
- Rat fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis) : It is the vector of the bacteria (Bacillus pestis) causing bubonic plague. It belongs to order siphonculata and family Pulicidae. They are blood suckers. The legs of the rat fleas are very large, adapted specially for jumping. Mosquitoes : These are vector of the pathogens of human diseases. Female Anopheles mosquito is vector of the Protozoa- Plasmodium species causing different types of malaria in human being. They suck the blood of human being. Culex mosquito is vector of the nematode Wuchereria bancrofti causing filariasis in man. The discovery of this disease of man transmitted by an insect was land mark in the development of medical entomology. After this discovery the potential significance of mosquitoes as vector of diseases accepted the classical work of Ross on the transmission of malaria by mosquitoes. Aedes aegypty is the carrier of viruses of yellow fever and dengu.
- Bed bug (Cimex) : Bed bug is apterous blood sucking ectoparasite of man. Its three species viz., Cimex lactularius, C. hempipterus and boueti are commonly found. They belong to order Hemiptera and family Cimicidae. They are supposed to transmit pathogens of certain diseases like tuberculosis, relapsing fever, typhoid etc.
- Lice (Pediculus) : Lice are apterous ectoparasite of mammals. It belongs to order Anoplura and family Pediculidae. The head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis) is found in the hairs of head, body louse (Pediculus humanus corporis) is found in the human clothes and crab louse (Pediculus humanus phthirius) is found in pubic hair. They transmit micro organism causing diseases like epidemic typhus fever, french fever, and relapsing fever.
Important links
- Entamoeba histolytica : Lifecycle | Disease & Prevention
- Plasmodium: Lifecycle | Disease | Symptoms | Prevention | Treatment
- Leishmania donovani : Life cycle | Prevention and Control
- Trypanosoma gambiense: Life Cycle | Prevention and Control
- Ascaris lumbricoides : Life Cycle | Disease | Pathogenesis | Prevention
- Wuchereria bancrofti : Life Cycle | Disease | Prevention
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