Question

The female mosquito needs your blood to grow her eggs. Please don't feel singled out. She bites everyone. There is no truth to the myths that mosquitoes prefer women over men or blondes and redheads over those with darker hair. She does, however, play favorites. Type o blood seems to be the vintage of choice. Stinky feet emit a bacterium that woos famished females, as do perfumes. As a parting gift, she leaves behind an itchy bump (an allergic reaction to her saliva) and potentially something far worse: infection with one of several deadly diseases, including malaria, Zika, West Nile, dengue and yellow fever. Mosquitoes are our apex predator, the deadliest hunter of human beings on the planet. A swarming army of 100 trillion or more mosquitoes patrols nearly every inch of the globe, killing about 700,000 people annually. Researchers suggest that mosquitoes may have killed nearly half of the 108 billion humans who have ever lived across our 200,000-year or more existence. Flying solo, the mosquito does not directly harm anyone. It is the diseases she transmits that cause an endless barrage of death. Yet without her, these pathogens could not be vectored to humans. Without her, human history would be completely unrecognizable. The mosquito and her diseases have accompanied traders, travelers, soldiers and settlers (and their captive African slaves) around the world and have been far more lethal than any manufactured weapons or inventions. Malarious mosquitoes patrolling the Pontine Marshes facilitated both the rise and the fall of the Roman Empire. Initially shielding the Eternal City from the Visigoths, Huns and Vandals, they eventually pointed their proboscises inward on Rome itself. Mosquitoes defended the Holy Land during the Crusades by laying waste to armies of cross-adorned Christian soldiers. By infecting European soldiers with yellow fever, they reinforced numerous successful rebellions in the Americas during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, including the British surrender at Yorktown during the American Revolution. Mosquitoes also played a role in steering slave ships from Africa across the Atlantic, because plantation owners in the Americas believed that Africans withstood the onslaught of mosquito-borne disease better than indigenous slaves or European indentured servants. Malaria often produces a synchronized and cyclical pattern of symptoms: a cold stage of chills and shakes, followed by a hot stage marked by fevers, headaches and vomiting, and finally a sweating stage. After a period of respite, this progression repeats itself. For many, especially children under 5, malaria triggers organ failure, coma and death. Today, roughly four billion people are at risk from mosquito-borne diseases. As our ancestors can attest, our battle with the mosquito has always been a matter of life and death, and it's beginning to look as though this confrontation is coming to a head. Questions 1. Describe the disease using the epidemiologic triangle model. 2. Report the descriptive epidemiology of the disease for a recent significant epidemic or pandemic (in the United States or not). 3. Describe what kind of surveillance system is in place for this disease. If there isn't one, recommend one. 4. What efforts have been made to control this disease? Describe at least one initiative or program in place to prevent or control the disease. How effective is it?

Answer 1

1. under epidemiological triangle method the disease is described under 3 sections environment, agent and host. in environment it may be biophysical or psycho social. the agents are mosquitoes, diverse exposures which may be non contagious. the host is human.

2. The disease malaria is caused by falciparum malaria and spread by female anopheles mosquito. it was estimated that 228 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide. globally it is noted that 405000 deaths were noted. In  US in the year 2016 2,078 cases were confirmed. at present 7.2 million cases was confirmed in US.

3. Generally public health surveillance system and disease surveillance system for malaria control are generally used.

4. educate and counsel all the people around the world about the disease. implement hygienic conditions and eradicate malaria and mosquito born diseases. clean the home and street, remove stagnant water, don't eat fruits and vegetables without cleaning, avoid junk food and outside food.