WHY SO MUCH BUZZ? by Adebayo Caleb

She scanned the surrounding swiftly and quickly adjusted to her new surrounding. As usual, she made her traditional buzzing noise just as her eyes locked on a possible prey. Dinner at last! Immediately, she aimed directly for her unsuspecting victim. In a few seconds, she was settled down to a dinner of fresh human blood. It was only a few seconds later after she had settled down to dine that she saw five heavy fingers descending on the spot where she was. Uh-oh! The victim had just felt her presence. Old Musky Toes had to wrap up dinner halfway and fly quickly away.

The short tale above is only a vivid demonstration of what the mosquito does. Reputed to be one of Africa’s most dreaded insect, the mosquito has earned its reputation from the over thirty million years to as far as the Jurassic era. It has existed on earth and if any awards are to be given for disease-causing parasites, the mosquito will get a Nobel Prize. It has been reported by the World health Organisation (WHO) that mosquito resistance has been reported in sixty four countries, while mosquito borne diseases kill more than six hundred and fifty thousand a year. This is not inconsistent with the fact that there are over three thousand five hundred different species of mosquitoes. Of all these species, each group may operate in its own way. For instance, some species attack people in houses while other species prefer to attack people outdoors or in forests.

However, it is surprising that with how mosquitoes have affected the life of most of Africa, a lot of people don’t know a lot about them. It is worthy of note that the male mosquito has a proboscis but does not have ragged edges for biting, they are also much smaller than the female, whereas the proboscis of the female are custom-made to bite and they also do make the annoying buzzing sound that puts one on red alert. The blood meal they obtain from humans is what enables them to lay eggs. It doesn’t take much to imagine why they are more in Africa since they need warmth and humidity to thrive.

Sometimes, you may also feel like a mosquito goes out of its way to bite you. This may be because they are more attracted to women than men; even weirder is the fact that, if given a choice, mosquitoes would rather drink blood from a blonde. A moving target also almost always attracts a mosquito than a stationary one because it’s a good bet that anything moving is alive and has a lot of blood. A person in dark clothing is also a very likely aim for a mosquito. The mosquito does it by its visual sensors

Mosquitoes can also sense carbon dioxide and lactic acid up to a hundred feet away and these gases are given off by human beings during their breathing process. Certain chemical in sweat also tend to attract mosquitoes, so if you keep wondering how a mosquito gets to know you are around, it’s quite obvious now. And as a result, people who sweat more tend to get more mosquitoes running around them.

These insects also possess heat sensors so they can locate human beings once they move close enough. The combinations of these sensors almost make the mosquito seem like a military aircraft rather than an insect

It is also quite interesting that when female mosquitoes drink blood, they purify the blood in their systems and leave a small puddle of urine on their victim’s skin. That is why when you first get bitten, you may notice a wet spot surrounding the bite.

Aside from malaria, the mosquito saliva released on the skin during a bite can negatively affect blood clothing, vascular constriction and immunity. It also creates inflation, hence the inflated part of the skin after a bite.

Even if eradicating this menace from our planet may be quite difficult, we may use as many preventive measures as possible. Some of the methods by which mosquitoes can be controlled include using of mosquito repellent lotion and mosquito spray. Mosquito nets can also be used. Again, wearing long sleeves and pants may help to reduce the infection by mosquitoes. Furthermore, putting on nightgowns or light-coloured clothes at night will aid in preventing the dreaded mosquito bite. DEET is also a very efficient mosquito repellent which one may use, because it targets and confuses the mosquito’s sense of smell, making the insect’s nerve cells to send a completely different message to the brain, hence preventing it from locating a person.

Indeed so much buzz is made about this deadly insect, and frankly enough, the reasons are not far-fetched, but with sheer determination, we can prevent it from infecting us.