Female mosquitoes don’t want to lay their eggs alone, but they don’t want sites that are too crowded either. Understanding what guides their choice could inform new control strategies.
West Nile virus is spread by mosquitoes. About 80 per cent of infected people have no symptoms, but the virus can cause encephalitis and can be life-threatening.
(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
West Nile virus arrived in North America in 1999 and spread across the continent by 2005. Here’s what you need to know about this mosquito-borne pathogen.
People catch La Crosse disease primarily from the bite of the eastern tree-hole mosquito – although two other species may also carry the virus.
Nipol Plobmuang/EyeEm via Getty Images
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.
View of Taichung City, Taiwan, behind a mosquito net.
Alan Picard / Shutterstock.com
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.
The tiny mosquito can be a big summer nuisance.
(Pexels)
Mosquito abundance is linked to climate and weather, and global climate change may be helping spread these dangerous carriers of disease.
An infection prevention and control professional wipes her gloves with a bleach wipe during an ebola virus training in Ottawa.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)
Infectious diseases pose a continual threat to Canadians. Ensuring the population stays healthy requires increasing investment in our public health system.
Frog chytrid may have been spread by humans. It is a fungus that has decimated amphibian species.
Reuters
More than 8,000 people have died from Ebola in West Africa since February 2014 and it has spread beyond the three countries initially affected. So, it’s an epidemic, right? Or is it an outbreak? What about…
The US is on the brink of a new virus epidemic; a virus that wasn’t there ten years ago but which is now worrying officials. Chikungunya, which causes an incapacitating fever, is spread via Aedes mosquitoes…
West Nile virus is responsible for a significant number of bird deaths in the United States.
Ed Gaillard
A state of emergency has been declared in Dallas, Texas as local authorities battle an outbreak of the deadly West Nile virus. The state is on track to report record numbers of the mosquito-borne disease…