Medical entomology
Encyclopedia
The discipline of medical entomology, or public health entomology, and also veterinary entomology is focused upon insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s and arthropod
Arthropod
An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton , a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods are members of the phylum Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others...

s that impact human health. Veterinary entomology is included in this category, because many animal diseases can "jump species" and become a human health threat, for example, bovine encephalitis (known as "mad cow disease"). Medical entomology also includes scientific research on the behavior, ecology, and epidemiology
Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...

 of arthropod disease vectors, and involves a tremendous outreach to the public, including local and state officials and other stake holders in the interest of public safety.

Medical Entomologists are employed by private and public universities, private industries, and federal, state, and local government agencies, including all three branches of the military - who hire medical entomologists to protect the troops from infectious diseases that can be transmitted by arthropods. Historically, during wars, more people have died due to insect-transmitted diseases, than to all the battle injuries combined.

Medical entomologists are also hired by chemical companies - to help develop new pesticides which will effectively decrease insect pest populations while simultaneously protecting the health of the public.

Public heath entomology has seen a huge surge in interest since 2005, due to the resurgence of the bed bug, Cimex lectularias.

Insects of medical importance

Medical entomologists work in the public health arena, dealing with insects (and other arthropods) that parasitize people, bite, sting, and/or vector disease.

Personal Pests Some of which may vector pathogens:
Lice, Fleas, Bedbug
Bedbug
Cimicidae are small parasitic insects. The most common type is Cimex lectularius. The term usually refers to species that prefer to feed on human blood...

s, Ticks, Scabies mites
Scabies
Scabies , known colloquially as the seven-year itch, is a contagious skin infection that occurs among humans and other animals. It is caused by a tiny and usually not directly visible parasite, the mite Sarcoptes scabiei, which burrows under the host's skin, causing intense allergic itching...



The Housefly
Housefly
The housefly , Musca domestica, is a fly of the suborder Cyclorrhapha...



The housefly is a very common and cosmopolitan species which transmits diseases to man. The organisms of both amoebic and bacillary dysenteries
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...

 are picked up by flies from the faeces of infected people and transferred to clean food either on the fly's hairs or by the fly vomiting during feeding. Typhoid germs may be deposited on food with the fly's faeces. The house fly cause the spread of yaws
Yaws
Yaws is a tropical infection of the skin, bones and joints caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum pertenue...

 germs by carrying them from a yaws ulcer to an ordinary sore . Houseflies also transmit poliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease spread from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route...

 by carrying the virus from infected faeces to food or drink. Cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...

 and hepatitis
Hepatitis
Hepatitis is a medical condition defined by the inflammation of the liver and characterized by the presence of inflammatory cells in the tissue of the organ. The name is from the Greek hepar , the root being hepat- , meaning liver, and suffix -itis, meaning "inflammation"...

  are sometimes fly-borne.Other diseases carried by houseflies are Salmonella
Salmonella
Salmonella is a genus of rod-shaped, Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, predominantly motile enterobacteria with diameters around 0.7 to 1.5 µm, lengths from 2 to 5 µm, and flagella which grade in all directions . They are chemoorganotrophs, obtaining their energy from oxidation and reduction...

, tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

, anthrax
Anthrax
Anthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Most forms of the disease are lethal, and it affects both humans and other animals...

, and some forms of ophthalmia
Ophthalmia
Ophthalmia is inflammation of the eye. It is a medical sign which may be indicative of various conditions, including sympathetic ophthalmia , gonococcal ophthalmia, trachoma or "Egyptian" ophthalmia, ophthalmia neonatorum ,...

. They carry over 100 pathogens and transmit some parasitic worms. The flies in poorer and lower-hygiene areas usually carry more pathogens. Some strains have become immune to most common insecticides.

Biting insects

Mosquitoes, Biting Midges
Culicoides
Culicoides is a genus of biting midges in the subfamily Ceratopogonidae. Around 500 species of Ceratopogonidae are at present placed in the genus and this is split into many subgenera. Several species are known to be vectors of various diseases and parasites which can affect animals.-Notable...

, (Sandflies), Blackflies, Horse Flies, Stable flies
Stable fly
Stomoxys calcitrans is commonly called the stable fly, barn fly, biting house fly, dog fly, or power mower fly. Unusually for a member of the family Muscidae, but like other members of the genus, Stomoxys calcitrans sucks blood from mammals.-External links:* * * hosted by the...

.

Pathogen infection transmitted by insect or other arthropod vectors.

Diseases carried by insects and other arthropod vectors affect more than 700 million people every year, and are considered the most sensitive to climatic and environment conditions.(WHO
Who
Who may refer to:* Who , an English-language pronoun* who , a Unix command* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism- Art and entertainment :* Who? , a 1958 novel by Algis Budrys...

)

Major
  • Dengue fever
    Dengue fever
    Dengue fever , also known as breakbone fever, is an infectious tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles...

     - Vectors: Aedes aegypti
    Aedes aegypti
    The yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti is a mosquito that can spread the dengue fever, Chikungunya and yellow fever viruses, and other diseases. The mosquito can be recognized by white markings on legs and a marking in the form of a lyre on the thorax...

    (main vector) Aedes albopictus (minor vector) threatens -50 million people are infected by dengue annually, 25,000 die. Threatens 2.5 billion people in more than 100 countries.

  • Malaria
    Malaria
    Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...

     - Vectors: Anopheles
    Anopheles
    Anopheles is a genus of mosquito. There are approximately 460 recognized species: while over 100 can transmit human malaria, only 30–40 commonly transmit parasites of the genus Plasmodium, which cause malaria in humans in endemic areas...

    mosquitoes - 500 million become severely ill with malaria every year and more than 1 million die.

  • Leishmaniasis
    Leishmaniasis
    Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by protozoan parasites that belong to the genus Leishmania and is transmitted by the bite of certain species of sand fly...

     - Vectors: species in the genus Lutzomyia
    Lutzomyia
    Lutzomyia is a genus of "sand flies" in the Psychodidae subfamily Phlebotominae and in the order Diptera. In the New World, Lutzomyia sand flies are responsible for the transmission of leishmaniasis, an important parasitic disease and Carrion's disease. Leishmaniasis is generally transmitted in...

    in the New World
    New World
    The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...

     and Phlebotomus
    Phlebotomus
    Phlebotomus is a genus of "sand fly" in the Dipteran family Psychodidae. In the past, they have sometimes been considered to belong in a separate family, Phlebotomidae, but this alternative classification has not gained wide acceptance.-Epidemiology:...

    in the Old World
    Old World
    The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....

    . Two million people infected.

  • Bubonic plague
    Bubonic plague
    Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...

     - Principal vector: Xenopsylla cheopis At least 100 flea species can transmit plague. Re-emerging major threat several thousand human cases per year.High pathogenicity and rapid spread.

  • Sleeping sickness - Vector: Tsetse fly
    Tsetse fly
    Tsetse , sometimes spelled tzetze and also known as tik-tik flies, are large biting flies that inhabit much of mid-continental Africa between the Sahara and the Kalahari deserts. They live by feeding on the blood of vertebrate animals and are the primary biological vectors of trypanosomes, which...

    , not all species. Sleeping sickness threatens millions of people in 36 countries of sub-Saharan Africa (WHO
    World Health Organization
    The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...

    )

  • Typhus
    Typhus
    Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...

     - Vectors: mites, fleas and body lice
    Body louse
    The body louse is a louse which infests humans. The condition of being infested with head lice, body lice, or pubic lice is known as pediculosis.-Origins:...

     16 million cases a year, resulting in 600,000 deaths annually.

  • Wuchereria bancrofti
    Wuchereria bancrofti
    Filaria, is a parasitic filarial nematode spread by a mosquito vector. It is one of the three parasites that cause lymphatic filariasis, an infection of the lymphatic system by filarial worms. It affects over 120 million people, primarily in Africa, South America, and other tropical and...

     - most common vectors: the mosquito species: Culex
    Culex
    Culex is a genus of mosquito, and is important in that several species serve as vectors of important diseases, such as West Nile virus, filariasis, Japanese encephalitis, St. Louis encephalitis and avian malaria....

    , Anopheles
    Anopheles
    Anopheles is a genus of mosquito. There are approximately 460 recognized species: while over 100 can transmit human malaria, only 30–40 commonly transmit parasites of the genus Plasmodium, which cause malaria in humans in endemic areas...

    , Mansonia, and Aedes
    Aedes
    Aedes is a genus of mosquito originally found in tropical and subtropical zones, but now found on all continents excluding Antarctica. Some species have been spread by human activity. Aedes albopictus, a most invasive species was recently spread to the New World, including the U.S., by the used...

    ; affects over 120 million people.

  • Yellow Fever
    Yellow fever
    Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....

     - Principal vectors: Aedes simpsoni, A. africanus, and A. aegypti
    Aedes aegypti
    The yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti is a mosquito that can spread the dengue fever, Chikungunya and yellow fever viruses, and other diseases. The mosquito can be recognized by white markings on legs and a marking in the form of a lyre on the thorax...

    in Africa, species in Haemagogus
    Haemagogus
    Haemagogus, is a genus of mosquitoes belonging to the family Culicidae. They mainly occur in Central America and northern South America , although some species inhabit forested areas of Brazil, and range as far as northern Argentina. In the Rio Grande Do Sul area of Brazil, one species, H....

    genus in South America, and species in Sabethes genus in France -200,000 estimated cases of yellow fever (with 30,000 deaths) per year.


Minor
  • Ross River fever
    Ross River Fever
    Ross River Fever is a mosquito-borne infectious disease caused by infection with the Ross River virus. The illness is typically characterised by an influenza-like illness and polyarthritis...

     - Vector: Mosquitoes, main vectors A. vigilax, Aedes camptorhynchus
    Aedes camptorhynchus
    Aedes camptorhynchus, or Southern Saltmarsh mosquito, is responsible for transmitting the Ross River virus, which causes Ross River fever.The mosquito had become established in New Zealand but was declared to be eradicated in 2010.-External links:...

    , and Culex annulirostris

  • Barmah Forest Virus
    Barmah Forest virus
    Barmah Forest virus is a virus currently found only in Australia. According to a Queensland Public Health Services fact sheet, "there is no specific drug treatment" for the virus, but the disease is non-fatal and relatively mild. The virus is transmitted to humans by bites from infected...

     - Vector: Known vectors Culex annulirostris, Ocleratus vigilax and O. camptorhynchus and Culicoides
    Culicoides
    Culicoides is a genus of biting midges in the subfamily Ceratopogonidae. Around 500 species of Ceratopogonidae are at present placed in the genus and this is split into many subgenera. Several species are known to be vectors of various diseases and parasites which can affect animals.-Notable...

     marksi

  • Kunjin encephalitis (mosquitoes)

  • Murray Valley encephalitis virus (MVEV)
    Murray Valley encephalitis virus
    Murray Valley encephalitis virus is a zoonotic flavivirus endemic to northern Australia and Papua New Guinea. It is the causal agent of Murray Valley encephalitis and in humans can cause permanent neurological disease or death...

     - Major mosquito vector: Culex annulirostris.

  • Japanese encephalitis
    Japanese Encephalitis
    Japanese encephalitis —previously known as Japanese B encephalitis to distinguish it from von Economo's A encephalitis—is a disease caused by the mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis virus. The Japanese encephalitis virus is a virus from the family Flaviviridae. Domestic pigs and wild birds are...

     - Several mosquito vectors, the most important being Culex tritaeniorhynchus
    Culex tritaeniorhynchus
    Culex tritaeniorhynchus is a species of mosquitoes which transmits Japanese encephalitis. This mosquito is a native of northern Asia, and parts of Africa . The females target large animals for blood extraction, including cattle and swine.- External links :*...

    .

  • West Nile virus
    West Nile virus
    West Nile virus is a virus of the family Flaviviridae. Part of the Japanese encephalitis antigenic complex of viruses, it is found in both tropical and temperate regions. It mainly infects birds, but is known to infect humans, horses, dogs, cats, bats, chipmunks, skunks, squirrels, domestic...

     - Vectors: vary according to geographical area; in the USA  Culex pipiens
    Culex pipiens
    Culex pipiens is a species of blood-feeding mosquito of the family Culicidae. It is a vector of some diseases, such as Japanese encephalitis, meningitis, Urticaria...

    (Eastern US), Culex tarsalis (Midwest and West), and Culex quinquefasciatus
    Culex quinquefasciatus
    Culex quinquefasciatus is the vector oflymphatic filariasis caused by the nematode Wuchereria bancroftiin the tropics and sub tropics.-Primary vector of Lymphatic Filariasis in India:...

    (Southeast) are the main vectors.

  • Lyme disease
    Lyme disease
    Lyme disease, or Lyme borreliosis, is an emerging infectious disease caused by at least three species of bacteria belonging to the genus Borrelia. Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto is the main cause of Lyme disease in the United States, whereas Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii cause most...

     - Vectors: several species of the genus Ixodes
    Ixodes
    Ixodes is a genus of hard-bodied ticks . It includes important disease vectors of animals and humans . Some ticks in this genus may transmit the pathogenic bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi responsible for causing Lyme disease...


  • Alkhurma virus (KFDV)
    Alkhurma virus
    Alkhurma virus is a member of the Flaviviridae virus family .-Virology:The virus has a positive sense single stranded RNA genome and replicates in the cytoplasm of the infected host cell...

     - Vector: tick
    Tick
    Ticks are small arachnids in the order Ixodida, along with mites, constitute the subclass Acarina. Ticks are ectoparasites , living by hematophagy on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians...


  • Kyasanur forest disease
    Kyasanur forest disease
    Kyasanur forest disease is a tick-borne viral hemorrhagic fever endemic to South Asia. The disease is caused by a virus belonging to the family flaviviridae, which also includes yellow fever and dengue fever.-History:...

     - Vector: Haemaphysalis spinigera

  • Brugia timori filariasis
    Brugia timori
    Brugia timori is a human filarial parasitic nematode which causes the disease "Timor filariasis." While this disease was first described in 1965, the identity of Brugia timori as the causative agent was not known until 1977...

     - Primary vector: Anopheles barbirostris

  • Babesia
    Babesia
    Babesia is a protozoan parasite of the blood that causes a hemolytic disease known as Babesiosis. There are over 100 species of Babesia identified; however only a handful have been documented as pathogenic in humans....

     - Vector Ixodes ticks.

  • Carrion's disease
    Carrion's disease
    Oroya fever or Carrion's Disease is an infectious disease produced by Bartonella bacilliformis infection.It is named for Daniel Alcides Carrión.-History:...

     - Vectors: sandflies of the genus Lutzomyia
    Lutzomyia
    Lutzomyia is a genus of "sand flies" in the Psychodidae subfamily Phlebotominae and in the order Diptera. In the New World, Lutzomyia sand flies are responsible for the transmission of leishmaniasis, an important parasitic disease and Carrion's disease. Leishmaniasis is generally transmitted in...

    .

  • Chagas disease
    Chagas disease
    Chagas disease is a tropical parasitic disease caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. T. cruzi is commonly transmitted to humans and other mammals by an insect vector, the blood-sucking insects of the subfamily Triatominae most commonly species belonging to the Triatoma, Rhodnius,...

     - Vector: assassin bugs of the subfamily Triatominae
    Triatominae
    The members of Triatominae , a subfamily of Reduviidae, are also known as conenose bugs, kissing bugs, assassin bugs or triatomines. Most of the 130 or more species of this subfamily are haematophagous, i.e. feed on vertebrate blood; a very few species feed on other invertebrates...

    . The major vectors are species in the genera Triatoma
    Triatoma
    Triatoma is a genus of assassin bug in the subfamily Triatominae The members of Triatoma are blood-sucking insects that can transmit serious diseases, such as Chagas disease....

    , Rhodnius
    Rhodnius
    Rhodnius is a genus of bugs in the subfamily Triatominae, important vectors of Chagas disease. They were important models for Sir Vincent Wigglesworth's studies of insect physiology, specifically growth and development.-Species:...

    , and Panstrongylus
    Panstrongylus
    The Genus Panstrongylus Berg, 1879 belongs to the subfamily Triatominae.-Species:Panstrongylus chinai Panstrongylus diasi Pinto & Lent, 1946Panstrongylus geniculatus...

    .

  • Chikungunya
    Chikungunya
    Chikungunya virus is an insect-borne virus, of the genus Alphavirus, that is transmitted to humans by virus-carrying Aedes mosquitoes. There have been recent breakouts of CHIKV associated with severe illness...

     - Vectors: Aedes
    Aedes
    Aedes is a genus of mosquito originally found in tropical and subtropical zones, but now found on all continents excluding Antarctica. Some species have been spread by human activity. Aedes albopictus, a most invasive species was recently spread to the New World, including the U.S., by the used...

    mosquitoes

  • Human ewingii ehrlichiosis
    Human ewingii ehrlichiosis
    Ehrlichiosis ewingii infection is an infectious disease caused by an intracellular bacteria, Ehrlichia ewingii. The infection is transmitted to humans by Amblyomma americanum...

     - Vector: Amblyomma americanum
    Amblyomma americanum
    Amblyomma americanum, or lone star tick, is a species of tick in the genus Amblyomma. It's average length is 1/4 inch.-Distribution:...


  • Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis - Vector: Ixodes scapularis
    Ixodes scapularis
    Ixodes scapularis is commonly known as the deer tick or blacklegged tick , and in some parts of the USA as the bear tick. It is a hard-bodied tick of the eastern and northern Midwestern United States...


  • Rift Valley Fever (RVF)
    Rift Valley fever
    Rift Valley Fever is a viral zoonosis causing fever. It is spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes, typically the Aedes or Culex genera. The disease is caused by the RVF virus, a member of the genus Phlebovirus...

     - Vectors: fleas in the genera Aedes
    Aedes
    Aedes is a genus of mosquito originally found in tropical and subtropical zones, but now found on all continents excluding Antarctica. Some species have been spread by human activity. Aedes albopictus, a most invasive species was recently spread to the New World, including the U.S., by the used...

    and Culex
    Culex
    Culex is a genus of mosquito, and is important in that several species serve as vectors of important diseases, such as West Nile virus, filariasis, Japanese encephalitis, St. Louis encephalitis and avian malaria....


  • Scrub typhus
    Scrub typhus
    Scrub typhus or Bush typhus is a form of typhus caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi first isolated and identified in 1930 in Japan., accessdate: 16 October 2011...

     - Vector: Chigger
    Harvest mite
    Trombicula is a genus of harvest mites in the Trombiculidae family. In their larval stage, they attach to various animals, including humans, and feed on skin, often causing itching...


  • Loa loa filariasis
    Loa loa filariasis
    Loa loa filariasis is a skin and eye disease caused by the nematode worm, loa loa. Humans contract this disease through the bite of a Deer fly or Mango fly , the vectors for Loa loa...

     - Vector: Chrysops sp.

See also

  • Arbovirus infection
  • Myiasis
    Myiasis
    Myiasis is a general term for infection by parasitic fly larvae feeding on the host's necrotic or living tissue. Colloquialisms for myiasis include flystrike, blowfly strike, and fly-blown. In Greek, "myia" means fly....

  • Delusional parasitosis
    Delusional parasitosis
    Delusional parasitosis is a form of psychosis whose victims acquire a strong delusional belief that they are infested with parasites, whereas in reality no such parasites are present...

  • Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine
    Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine
    Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine; is a medical institution based in Hamburg, Germany which is dedicated to research, treatment, training and therapy of tropical and infectious diseases....

  • Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
    Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
    The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine is a research and teaching institution focused on neglected tropical diseases and the control of diseases caused by poverty. It is a registered charity affiliated to the University of Liverpool...

  • Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine
    Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine
    The Institute of Tropical Medicine , previously known as Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine is located in Antwerp, Belgium. The ITM is one of the world's leading institutes for training and research in tropical medicine and the organisation of health care in developing countries...

  • Insect indicators of abuse or neglect
    Insect indicators of abuse or neglect
    Entomological evidence is legal evidence in the form of insects or related artifacts and is a field of study in forensic entomology. Such evidence is used particularly in medicolegal and medicocriminal applications. Insect evidence is customarily used to determine post mortem interval , but can...


External links

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