Who is the mosquito?

An article by Benjamin Durand, Melody Nuvolone and Maya Lemonnier: 2^nd euro institution st Joseph- Carnolès.

Summer means holidays, beach, calm and … incessant mosquitos’ stings. In fact, they are considered to be impossible little animals who ruin your holidays but after all, isn't the mosquito more than this? So, we wanted to know the secrets of this little insect and we went to the first day of the Sustainable Development lecture organized by Saint Joseph.

What is a mosquito? The mosquito represents more than 3500 species around the world, including about 40 already present in PACA region. We all know more or less that they don't all sting (only the female mosquitoes sting humans because they need proteins present in the blood. After having food, our biggest regret, they go lay their eggs in an aquatic area and, these ones can only hatch if the temperatures go beyond 12°C. So the cycle reproduces endlessly.) For many years, they have been the newspapers' headlines especially in the Monaco Hebdo in 2010, the Nice Matin in 2013 and the Dépêche in 2015. In fact, the mosquito has been hitting more than ever with global warming. If we reach the objective of the 2°C until the end of the century (I don t understand what you want to say), the temperatures will transform the mosquito biologically , it will reach then many more countries to a much longer period that could extend to 10 month of activities each year. This can be observed right now for example, in Camargue, there still would be more than 300 stings every 15 minutes in November. And this is just a weak number compared to the ones of the Southern countries where the consequences are much more serious: around the world, there are 225 million cases of paludism identified and 781 900 people dying each year, which represents about one victim every 30 seconds but, we will talk about that later.

If we ask you what mosquito species you fear the most, you will certainly answer the tiger mosquito because, it is also certainly the one that you know; but you aren't necessarily wrong, in any case if the question is only targeted on our region however we won’t expand on all the species present in the world. In fact, there are 3 sorts of mosquitoes that are very present around us. The Culex Pipiens, who just lives in the cities, the Aedes Mariea, whose position is at the level of the coastline then, the famous Aedes Albopictus, the Tiger Mosquito. The latter comes from South Asia and arrived in Europe in 1990 at Genoa. So this species has evolved little by little up to Menton and Nice in 2004 by a fast and important expansion. The individuals move because of road transportation because these ones can’t get away more than 100 meters from their hatching place. Furthermore, this species is particularly vector of the chikungunya and the dengue, more than 111 cases of dengue fever, 28 of chikungunya and 6 autochtons cases were identified in France during this year, which proves the advance of the mosquito because 6 out of 145 people are affected so that’s 13,3%. They have caught dengue fever without going out of the metropolitan territories. We also note that there was an epidemic in 2013 in Antibes because they can lay up to 200 eggs in stagnant waters (vase, puddle…) and it takes from 5 to 6 days for the larva to hatch.

It can also be noticed there was an epidemic in 2013 in the West Indies because they can lay up to 200 eggs in stagnant waters ( mud, puddle, soucoup...) (REPETITION !) and after larvaes can hatch between 5 or 6 days later. The mosquito's habitat is mainly created by humans and its increase is due to the presence of stagnant waters in the environment. We checked this fact with a workshop on the Burkina Faso organised by Miss Thébault. Then we saw how the poverty of the country prevents the buildingt building of efficient water networks. At the moment, the water is accumulating in the tanks which creates a perfect place for the mosquitoes to develo and reproduce. In this way, diseases such as malaria are carried through the water to humans. This fact was confirmed by Solange ,who after travelling all around the world by bike, has been able to tell us about her experience :

« (…) We are witnessing the extent of the mosquito problem in some areas and we feel powerless. In Yemen, I met a baby in the arms of a woman who had malaria and I couldn t do anything. In the world, believe it or not, the danger is Nature but also animals(...). The first animal danger is mosquitoes, they kill people. Thousands of children die of malaria every year . We feel very powerless  ».

Indeed, the mosquito is the first vector of disease in the world and it is the most dreaded of all animals. The oceonagraphic museum in Monaco has denounced the threat of mosquitoes' sting on sharks denouncing the fact that people underestimate the danger.

An exposition about people

ded because of animals. Photo : Maya

So, a lot of people would like to extinguish the mosquito species. We asked a researcher from the  National Centre for Scientific Research, 

 Camille Roumieux, to give us his point of view about this topic.

« -Do you think mosquitoes are a real risk for the future ? »

« -Yes, it's already a risk in some parts of the planet. 780000 people die from mosquitoes bites, which means one death every 30 seconds. Of course, not all the countries are concerned yet but due to global warming, mosquitoes touch more and more people over longer periods making the risk grow. »

« -Why are  mosquitoes playing a role on the ecosystem and what will be consequences if they disapear ?- »

« -Like every species mosquito is food for other species especially for birds.  They give more energy than any other animal or any other plant. A lot of researches show that if a bird doesn't eat mosquitoes, it will lay less eggs than usual. So we can say that mosquitoes are essential because it is an important food for these kinds of birds. It is paramount of the improvement of the biodiversity

So we can say that « the disappearance of a harmful species for humans will lead to the extinction of other species ». Nevertheless, mosquitoes bring some other benefits for the population. We can think about « biomimetisme » which is perfectly characterized by mosquitoes. In a nutshell, bites are both useful and loathed. Indeed, some people are becoming achmophobus : the idea of being stung gives urticaria. Even if it's unpleasant, most of mosquitoes' bites are not painful. 

Avec Nanpoass 33, “you will feel absolutly nothing…” (Photo : Terumo)

A mosquito bite Photo: Phil-cdc 

lso two Japanese firms decided to imitate the mosquito proboscis to produce medical stings. They have adapted a new typology of stings with conical shape like mosquito proboscis and not cylindrical anymore. They also have succeeded in lowering sting length, that was supposed impossible by most of the producers. Mission accomplished in 2005 by changing sting production methods. Nowadays, there are nanopass 33 billion syringes sold worldwide.

To conclude, we can say that it wouln't be right to kill all the mosquitoes because they are harmful. Even though it isn't easy, me must find solutions.