World Mosquito Day 2021: Mosquito - A Friend Or Foe?

We are more pestered and diseased by swarming mosquitoes than any other micro beasts in nature. Mosquitoes are senior to us in the tree of biological evolution. Despite modern chemistry, we are unable to contain the problem of mosquitoes in the world. Hence now, humans are learning to co-exist with them harmoniously and with minimum damage.

Every year, in the remembrance of Sir Ronald Ross, a British doctor who in 1897 discovered that ‘female mosquitoes transmit malaria between humans’, World Mosquito Day is observed. This discovery revolutionized the treatment of mosquito-borne diseases. After this discovery of Dr. Ronald Ross, campaigns were launched for the prevention and treatment of mosquito-borne diseases on a large scale around the world, and for his discovery, he was also awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1902. To honor this contribution of Dr. Ross, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in 1930, announced the celebration of World Mosquito Day every year on 20th August.

Although we may hate the mosquitoes, not all mosquitoes are dangerous and bite us. mosquitoes are extremely important for maintaining the ecological balance on the earth. our expert Dr. P. V. Ranganayakulu, PhD. in History or Ayurveda explains how mosquitoes are both our friends as well as foes.

These little creatures first appeared on earth probably 46 million years ago, far before humans evolved from apes. Not just humans, animals, birds, insects, and even trees get their share of mosquito bites. It has become an integral part of the evolutionary tree. We often think of its bad effects and consider it as an enemy and so, we wanted to eradicate them. But now, biologists realized that eradication is an unrealistic and antinature activity.

Mosquitoes carry a number of dangerous diseases like malaria, dengue, filariasis, Zika, chikungunya, and Encephalitis. They are a part of the complex web of life. So we need to respect them. An adult mosquito can survive for a few months, up to 6 months, while the female mosquito survives for just two to three weeks. Female mosquitoes need more nutrition therefore they seek blood, while others seek sap from plants. Mosquitos fly for nectar and thus help pollination. They survive harsh winters. They even survived the Ice Age 2.5 million years ago. Eggs laid in water or moist surroundings can get dry but can hatch even after eight months. These beautiful creatures fly slowly but their wings flap 300 times per second.

Mosquitoes are food for birds, frogs, and fish. There are more than 3000 varieties of mosquitos but only around 200 varieties of mosquitoes bite humans. Culiseta Melanura mosquito bites only birds and avoids humans. While Uranotaenia Sapphirine feeds on reptiles and amphibians. Our deeper understanding helps us to find our niche in nature.

All mosquitos need some water to breed. So keeping our surroundings clean should be our first priority. Dry Day is a very useful program to contain the mosquito growth in our neighborhood. Dry Day means people empty water from old tires, gutters, etc. at least once a month, so that the larvae may not survive near residential dwellings. One may also practice various methods to avoid mosquito bites like repellents, nets, cleanliness, electric mesh, skin creams, fogging, etc. Remember to always use multiple methods.

Currently, doctors are designing new hypodermic needles after examining the mosquito stings, to be used in syringes, to avoid injection pain. The reason is that the mosquito’s saliva makes us feel no pain when it bites us.

The most important thing that we all must remember is that as much as we wish to get rid of mosquitoes, without mosquitoes we cannot have so much greenery in the world because they are the chief pollinators. Therefore, we must learn to coexist with not just humans, but other living beings also.