A Tale of Two Blood Types

Mosquitoes are a member of the fly family. They can complete the cycle from egg to adult in as little as four days. After around two days as an adult female mosquitoes are ready to bite their first victim. However, neither males nor females consume blood. Instead they drink fruit juices and nectar. Everyone knows that mosquitoes feed on mammals, but did you know they also drink from reptiles and amphibians? You may think that there are only a few different species of mosquitoes, but there are actually more than two and a half thousand species worldwide and they are found on every continent except Antarctica.

Mosquitoes are known as disease vectors, which means that they are often the reason for the spread of dangerous diseases such as Malaria and West Nile virus. They are not the direct cause of these diseases, the only thing they actually do is spread them through their bite, for example if one bites an animal with a disease and then bites you the blood from that animal might get transferred to you and then you would also have that disease. Fortunately in the USA there is much less of a risk of dying because of a disease transmitted by a mosquito than in other parts of the world such as Africa or South America. The reason for this is that they are much more humid and provide for year round mosquito life cycle, and also that the diseases are more prevalent there and therefore more likely to be in blood the mosquitoes last ingested, unlike the United States.

Mosquitoes are quite dangerous, but there are some good things that come from them. They are an important food source for many animals such as dragonflies and bats, both when larvae and adults. Mosquito larvae also help to recycle nutrients in the ecosystem by consuming a lot of organic material in the wetlands where they are born. Adults also pollinate plants when they eat nectar. Scientists are also looking at mosquito saliva as a cure for cardiovascular disease and the development of anti-clotting drugs. Also, prototype products have been developed to allow diabetics to test their blood sugar less painfully with the use of a device similar to the mouth of a mosquito.

The Blomshield family’s personal experience with mosquitoes has not been a good one. Aleah always gets covered in bites, and so does Mom occasionally. Dad and I don’t usually have a super big issue with getting bitten, but it’s still annoying when we do get bit. Out of all of us I almost always get bit the least, even though I almost never put on bug spray and everyone else does put it on. I always feel sorry for Aleah when she does get bit because I can see that it really bothers her, and even if I get bit it doesn’t really annoy me that much. We usually make jokes about mosquitoes hating my blood and loving Aleah’s, and the funniest thing about that is that we have the same blood type. We kill them by the dozens, but for every one we kill two more take its place. The mosquitoes win the day, but we will win the war!