Been on a tropical holiday? You might have brought home more than just a new sarong and extra colour in your cheeks – perhaps a mosquito that spreads dengue, or another known as ‘the BBQ stopper’.
A female blacklegged deer tick crawls along a piece of straw.
(Shutterstock)
Ticks are generally inactive in the winter and start to look for their next meal as temperatures warm up. But as winters warm, every season may become tick season.
The more water, the more mosquito eggs are laid, and the more mosquitoes end up buzzing about. But to spread disease to people, they first need to bite infected wildlife.
Thousands of Australians contract Ross River virus each year. Mozzies can infect us with their bites, but only after they’ve bitten an infected animal host.
CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology is being used in field from agriculture to medicine to food security and disease control.
TotallyMJ/Shutterstock.com
You may not agree with using the gene-editing tool, CRISPR, to alter the DNA of human babies. But what about using it to engineer plants? Or wipe out one of the world’s most dangerous creatures?
A female Anopheles stephensi mosquito bites a human to get a blood meal through its pointed proboscis. A droplet of blood is expelled from the abdomen after having engorged itself.
Jim Gathany/Wikimedia Commons
Researchers are exploring genetic forms of population control called gene drives that spread traits faster that happens naturally. The goal is to curb mosquito-borne diseases like malaria.
Genetically modified mosquitoes breed fear and suspicion, especially since the research happens behind closed doors, away from the public. Now scientists and architects are trying to change that model.
Clothes can offer some protection.
John Jones/Flickr
It’s tempting to ditch the mozzie creams and sprays, and switch to clothing that has its own “built in” bug repellent instead. But the technology isn’t quite there yet.
Bed nets treated with insecticide have been effective in fighting malaria in Africa.
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Researchers have tried unsuccessfully for decades to develop a malaria vaccine. Now a new approach, showing promise in mice, suggests it is possible to block mosquitoes from spreading the disease.
The mosquitoes that spread Japanese encephalitis are usually found in wetlands and drainage ditches, and will be out biting mostly at dawn and dusk.
Bryon Lippincott/Flikr
Japanese encephalitis virus is rare and doesn’t usually cause symptoms. But in a small proportion of cases it can result in long-term neurological impairment and death.
A close-up of a female Anopheles arabiensis feeding.
Author supplied
The forecast arrival of El Niño may mean the east coast of Australia will experience an exceptionally hot and dry summer, but does this mean there will be fewer mosquitoes buzzing about?
Warmer temperatures could lead to more zones of the country that make good breeding sites for mosquitoes.
Apichart Meesri / Shutterstock.com
Is our changing climate making regions of the US more suitable for ticks and mosquitoes that spread diseases? Or is the climate changing human physiology making us more vulnerable?
An inch-long bloodsucker on the hunt for a meal.
Ben Seese/Flickr
Yes, giant mosquitoes are a thing. They’re specialized to wait out the dry times only to emerge from their eggs when high water provides the perfect larval environment.
Principal Medical Scientist and Head of Laboratory for Antimalarial Resistance Monitoring and Malaria Operational Research, National Institute for Communicable Diseases