Aedes aegypti,
yellow fever mosquito

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Taxonomic lineage

cellular organisms - Eukaryota - Fungi/Metazoa group - Metazoa - Eumetazoa - Bilateria - Coelomata - Protostomia - Panarthropoda - Arthropoda - Mandibulata - Pancrustacea - Hexapoda - Insecta - Dicondylia - Pterygota - Neoptera - Endopterygota - Diptera - Nematocera - Culicimorpha - Culicoidea - Culicidae - Culicinae - Culicini - Aedes/Ochlerotatus group - Aedes - Stegomyia - Aedes aegypti

Brief facts

• Aedes aegypti is a smallish, dark mosquito with conspicuous white markings and banded legs.
• Most frequently found in the tropics on all continents, Aedes aegypti historically is considered to be a primary vector of devastating viral diseases such as the Dengue fever, Chikungunya and yellow fever.
• The Aedes aegypti is a day biting mosquito. This species is most active for approximately two hours after sunrise and several hours before sunset. After the mosquito feeds on a virus-carrier, the virus starts to replicate in the mosquito. After eight to 12 days incubation period the mosquito can transmit the virus on subsequent feeding attempts (several times per day is not uncommon) depending on the availability of the host. Feeding generally occurs at one to two hour intervals. The A. aegypti is adapted to breed around human dwellings and prefers to lay its eggs in clean water free of other organisms. Artificial or natural water containers (water storage containers, flower pots, old tires, etc.) that are within or close to places where humans live are ideally larval habitats for the A. aegypti.
• Aedes mosquitos are competent to transmit heartworms. Detailed information about ubiquitous parasites - heartworms, Dirofilaria immitis at MetaPathogen.

Life cycle of A. aegypti

Life Cycle Stages

Life cycle can be completed in 1.5-3 weeks.

• egg the eggs of most species are laid together in a raft form, but Aedes female lays her eggs separately thus allowing them to spread over large surfaces of water if conditions permit, this way the eggs stand a better chance of survival; eggs can survive for very long periods in a dry state, often for more than a year; if the egg contains the viruses, they are preserved too
  • embryo
• hatching
• larval MeSH all larval stages are aquatic; collectively they take a minimum of 4 days to complete
  • 1st instar larva
  • 1st molting
  • 2nd instar larva
  • 2nd molting
  • 3rd instar larva
  • 3rd molting
  • 4th instar larva
  • 4th molting
• pupa MeSH pupal stage takes 2 days to several weeks to complete
• newly eclosed
• adult

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Appendix: selected articles

Melissa Lee Phillips. Dengue Reborn: Widespread Resurgence of a Resilient Vector Environ Health Perspect. 2008 September; 116(9): A382–A388.

Dengue is transmitted by mosquitoes that have become perfectly adapted to the urban environment. Areas where there is poor sanitation and overcrowding (such as Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, above and below) are ripe for epidemics. According to the Brazilian Ministry of Health, Rio was the site of about half the dengue cases in an epidemic that swept this country in spring 2008.

Aedes aegypti, the primary vector for dengue, has become perfectly adapted to the urban environment. In the wake of discontinued eradication efforts, Ae. aegypti has reinfested nearly every region from which it was eliminated.

Scientists recently modeled the estimated baseline population at risk for dengue infection in 1990 (A) and in 2085 (B) using climate data for 1961–1990 and projections for humidity change—a function of climate change—for 2080–2100. Ranges above indicate percentage of the population at risk: 0–10%, 10–20%, etc. However, many scientists do not agree that climate change will appreciably alter the risk of dengue. Source: Hales S, et al. 2002. Potential effect of population and climate changes on global distribution of dengue fever: an empirical model. Lancet 360:830–834.

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Khun S and Manderson L. Community and School-Based Health Education for Dengue Control in Rural Cambodia: A Process Evaluation PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2007 December; 1(3): e143.

Dengue fever prevention and control measures.

How to control the tiger mosquito dengue fever vector.

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