Mosquito bite

“ Well, people who die of malaria die of mosquito bite, since the mosquito is the only agency of infection. Thus, it reduces to this: that while the individual rattler is more dangerous than the individual mosquito, the mosquito, in general, kills her thousands where the snake kills one. Now—with considerable modification of the ratio—scarlet fever is the rattlesnake; whooping-cough and measles are the mosquitoes. It is just as important to keep measles out of a community as it is to shut out scarlet fever. ”

“ It is very generally believed that mosquitoes bite but once and then die. This is sometimes so; but, unless they are killed in the act of biting, they usually live to bite again. The female mosquito (for it is only the female that attacks human beings) bites many times. ”

“ At the end of two days out of the pupa skin comes a grown-up mosquito. If it is a Mrs. Mosquito, she promptly begins to bite people and to carry about fevers or malaria from person to person. The bite of a mosquito may sometimes be as dangerous as the bite of a rattlesnake."
The children had been slapping the mosquitoes buzzing about on the piazza. "And now," said the guide, "before we go into supper, I will tell you a real and a true story. Mosquitoes sometimes carry sickness from one person to another until it spreads throughout a large city. ”

“ They have been captured in a number of instances while biting people, and have been brought to the writer's office for determination in such a way that there can be no doubt about the accuracy of this statement. As the story went West, bites by Conorhinus sanguisuga and Rasatus thoracicus were without doubt termed "kissing-bug" bites. With regard to other cases, the writer has known of an instance where the mosquito bite upon the lip of a sleeping child produced a very considerable swelling. Therefore he argues that many of these reported cases may have been nothing more than mosquito bites. ”

“ When the mosquito alights, with its peculiar hum, it thrusts in its keen lance, and then enlarges the aperture with the two saws, which play beside the lance, until the forked bill, with its capillary arrangement for pumping blood, can be inserted. The sawing process is what grates upon the nerves of the victim, and causes him to strike wildly at the sawyer. The irritation of a mosquito's bite is undoubtedly owing to these saws. It is to be hoped that the mosquito keeps her surgical instruments clean, otherwise it might be a means of propagating blood diseases. ”

“ As soon, however, as the warm weather comes round and the mosquito becomes active and again begins to bite there is evidence that it still maintains its power of transmitting infection; indeed Boyce states that mosquito's infected in one year are capable of transmitting infection and starting a fresh epidemic in the following warm season. When it is remembered that a mosquito by a single bite is capable of setting up an attack of the disease, we see how important is this question. ”

“ The great bulk of the mosquitoes occurring in this section of our country are not agents for the transmission of any disease known to us; but their attacks may be, and often are, so annoying as to form a positive injury to the health of weak or sickly individuals by robbing them of sleep and by the constant irritation of their bites. To some persons the bite of a mosquito is really a serious matter and severe swelling and inflammatory conditions are caused. ”

“ Each of these lobes is made up of a layer of secreting cells (Fig. 71) which produces the saliva that is poured into the wound as soon as the insect pierces the skin of the victim, and we shall see, too, that the malarial germs also collect in these glands to be carried by the saliva to the new host.
EFFECTS OF THE BITE
After a mosquito has bitten a person and withdrawn the stylets, a small area about the puncture whitens, then soon becomes pink and begins to swell, then to itch and burn. Some people suffer much more from the bites of mosquitoes than do others. ”

“ There are mosquito-nets on the windows, of course, but they seem merely to annoy those birds of prey, and exacerbate their naturally hasty temper. After being obliged to bite his way through two or three folds of pink or blue gauze, no wonder a mosquito sits on your pillow and shrieks insanely in your ear what he is going to do to you. ”

“ Most of the insects previously mentioned are ones which throughout life live in water, but a very large number are aquatic only during their larval or immature stages. The Mosquito is a good illustration, of this type. In some of its habits the Mosquito is well known, but this is primarily due to the biting habit of the female. The researches of recent years clearly show that the annoyance from the bite itself, is, in the case of some kinds of Mosquitoes, only a small part of the mischief that they can do. ”

“ We only succeeded with our tenth individual. Of course, you were biting often with non-contaminated mosquitoes, as your fever cases were doubtful. Cases 3 and 6 should have failed. I expect better results from your May-infected mosquitoes. I see that Finlay and Guiteras continue to harp on the harmlessness of a single mosquito’s bite, drawing the conclusion that ordinarily y. f. is due to multiple bites. After some poor devil dies, they may change their minds. Carroll’s severe illness was due to a single insect and poor Lazear died from a single bite. ”

“ The germs of these diseases undergo a well defined cycle of development in the body of the mosquito. For mosquitoes to become a menace it is necessary for them to bite a human subject suffering from malaria or yellow fever after which a period of incubation has to elapse before the bite of the insect becomes dangerous. ”

“ It is simply gathering its own natural food, though this does not make it less annoying to us since we are its victims. The swelling produced after the bite is the result of the action of the saliva the mosquito injected into the wound. The opening through the tongue is so small that blood would readily clot inside the tube and prevent its further usefulness, did not the mosquito inject the secretion of its salivary glands into the wound. ”

“ This hypothesis is not supported by recent observations, which indicate that infection in man occurs only as a result of inoculation through the bite of an infected mosquito. The question is whether malarial fevers can be contracted in marshy localities independently of the mosquito, which has been demonstrated to be an intermediate host of the malarial parasite? ”

“ Writing of mosquitos, let me say these Indian specimens were a terror to us all. What numbers we killed! I could write this account in their blood. It was my blood, though—before they got it! Men who hunt the tiger in cool bravery boiled with indignation before these awful pests, which stabbed and stung with marvellous persistency, and disturbed the solitude of nature with their incessant humming. I write the word incessant advisedly, for I learned that there are several kinds of mosquitos. Some work by day and others by night. Naturalists tell us that only the female mosquito bites. ”

“ Contrary to the general opinion mosquitoes bite many times, and frequently remain alive for months—the malarial mosquito particularly living in cellars and attics oftentimes throughout the entire winter.
If one of these mosquitoes bite a person with malaria, the parasites are sucked in along with the blood and pass into the stomach of the gnat, making their way ultimately into the body substance; here the parasites undergo a series of multiplications, a single one of them sometimes producing as many as ten thousand young malarial parasites. ”

“ No one ever slept in the tent, and I never found Anopheles bite in the day-time.
The best way of ‘downing’ mosquitos is to prevent the imago hatching, and this, as has been indicated, can be done by killing the larvae and the pupae, which is effected by brushing oil on the water in which they live. The petrol or crude mineral oil should be renewed from time to time as it evaporates. When once the mosquitos are hatched, every effort should be made to keep them outside dwelling-houses by means of wire screens, but if that be impracticable mosquito-nets should be used at nights. ”

“ This has long been recognized by natives who travel through it freely between sunrise and sunset. The only permanent inhabitants of the region are persons who have recovered from the disease. The borders are sharply defined within a few yards of altitude.
For some years it has been recognized that the infection comes from the bite of a single species of sand fly—a vicious pest smaller than a mosquito. Protection is afforded only by special screens. Ordinary mosquito netting is worthless. The death belt is a place of bright sunshine nearly every day. The insects cannot endure light. ”

“ When the mosquito bites an infested person, his proboscis removes some embryo filariæ, which are quickly transferred to its stomach. Some of these escape digestion, develop within the mosquito, and when the mosquito dies in water they bore their way out, and are subsequently swallowed by man.
It is essential, therefore, in order to prevent this disease to boil or efficiently filter all drinking water, and to prevent the access of279 mosquitoes to water. Persons infested with filariæ should sleep inside mosquito nets, in order that they may not, when bitten by mosquitoes, spread the disease. ”

“ Lazear, who was stricken on 18 September and died a week later. After his death, a notebook containing entries about his experiments was found in the pocket of a uniform which he had been wearing. This little notebook, when analyzed by Reed, furnished the clue to the secret of mosquito transmis sion of the disease— namely, that it was a matter of timing of the bites, both of the original patient from whom the disease was transferred and also of the transferee. To become infected, the mosquito must bite the sick patient within the first 3 days of illness ”

“ These facts explain certain peculiarities in malarial infection; thus, infection occurs practically only at night; it is most common near stagnant water, especially upon the side toward which the prevailing winds blow; and the [p. 191] danger is greater when persons sleep upon or near the ground than in upper stories of buildings. The insects frequently hibernate in warmed houses, and may bite during the winter. A mosquito becomes dangerous in eight to fourteen days after it bites a malarious person, and remains so throughout its life. ”

“ They may be seen so distended after their night's work that they can scarcely fly. Newcomers from England are their special prey, and their bites often cause a good deal of inflammation. The loud hum with which they approach is almost as disturbing as their bite. Most English people have nets of fine gauze surrounding their beds, and some Indians have adopted the same precaution since the promulgation of the theory that the bite of an infected mosquito is the cause of malarial fever. ”

“ Any one who is ill with malaria or yellow fever should be carefully protected from mosquitoes, for, should a person be bitten by an Anopheles, the malarial mosquito or Stegomyia fasciata, the yellow fever mosquito, at this time, there would be great danger that the insects might fly away and bite some one else and thus spread these diseases. Screens for both doors and windows form the best protection against mosquitoes at all times ”

“ The annoyance of after-effects from a sting depends entirely on the individual's physical makeup. Some people are so poisoned by mosquito bites that three or four on the forehead suffice to close entirely the victim's eyes. ”

“ Short of suppressing mosquitoes, the parasitic cycle may theoretically be broken by preventing them from giving the infection to man or taking it from him. The means of accomplishing the former have been already pointed out, but they are obviously difficult to carry out on a large scale, particularly in native communities. It is one thing to protect individuals from mosquito bites, another to prevent the propagation of the parasite in a whole community. ”

“ The pain from the bite of a female mosqmto and the subsequent irritation and swelling prob?bly result from the injection of the secre- tion from the salivary glands of the insect into the wound. It is said that the salira of the mosquito prevents coagula- tion of the blood. Because of the short time necessary for the completion of the lire cycle from egg to adult during summer, there are many generations of mosquitoes from spring to fall. The win?er is passed both in the adult and in the larval stage. Fertile females may survive cold weather in pro- tected places ”

“ Open water barrels and water tanks prove a fruitful breeding place for these insects, and should be abolished. The protection of the person from mosquito bites is obtained by proper screening of habitations and the avoidance of unscreened open air, at or after nightfall, when the pests are most in evidence. ”

“ Mosquito boots or buskins are also useful, and in certain places hoods for the face and neck, such as the “Mosquinette” variety, will be found of value.
Repellent substances applied to the skin may also be employed. Cassia oil, with brown oil of camphor in vaseline, is useful. Vermijelli, containing a little citronella oil, is fairly effective but is not so pleasant to use. The irritating effect of mosquito bites may be diminished by the application of tincture of iodine. The same measures are effective in the case of some of the biting midges. ”