Mosquito Info
Mosquito Facts
Did you know that only female mosquitoes bite? Female mosquitoes require a blood meal to produce eggs, hence they are the only ones that land on you, and pierce your skin with their proboscis to suck your blood. Males do not consume blood but instead feed on nectar.
Female mosquitoes lay 100-200 eggs at a time. Their larvae and pupae can develop in small puddles of water, even as little as a teaspoon worth of water!
The complete life cycle of a mosquito, from egg to adult, can occur in just under 15 days.
Not all mosquitoes transmit diseases. For disease transmission to occur a mosquito must bite an infected human, and then that mosquito is now capable of passing the disease along to another human.
Watch a short video all about the loathsome, lethal, most-hated insect in the world, the mosquito!
Mosquito-Borne Diseases
- Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes are vectors of Dengue.
- Dengue is an arboviral disease that is transmitted throughout Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
- Do you think you have Dengue? Check out the CDC's website for a list of symptoms and treatments.
- Aedes aegypti is the primary vector of Yellow fever.
- Yellow fever is present in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and South America.
- Refer to the CDC's website for a list of symptoms and treatments for Yellow fever.
- Chikungunya virus is most often spread by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes.
- Countries where Chikungunya outbreaks have occurred include Asia, Europe, Africa, Indian and Pacific Oceans and the Americas.
- For a list of symptoms click on this CDC website link.
- Zika virus is spread to humans primarily through infected Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes.
- Countries at risk for Zika, include many in Africa, Asia, the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and since 2014, Zika has been documented in 35 countries throughout the Americas.
- Stay informed about the spread of Zika. To learn more refer to the CDC's information sheet in both English or in Spanish.
- West Nile virus maintains a cycle between the vector, Culex mosquitoes, and the host, birds. In addition to birds, mosquitoes with WNV can also infect horses, people and other mammals.
- Over 75% of people infected with WNV do not develop symptoms. About one in five people who are infected will show symptoms such as fever, headache, nausea, body aches, vomiting, rash, or diarrhea.
- Currently, there are no vaccines for the viral infection.
- Malaria is transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito in subtropical and tropical regions.
- Malaria is not contagious but can be transmitted via the female mosquito, from mother to unborn child, and through shared and contaminated syringes and needles.
- For a geographic map showing where Malaria transmission occurs globally, visit the CDC's Malaria webpage.
Distribution of Aedes aegypti & Aedes albopictus in the United States
Maps From Updated Reported Distribution of Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti and Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) in the United States, 1995–2016. Journal of Medical Entomology. Published online June 19, 2017 at doi:10.1093/jme/tjx088. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America 2017. This work is written by US Government employees and is in the public domain in the US.
Maps showing the reported occurrence of A. aegypti and A. albopictus by county between 1 January 1995 and December 2016 in the United States, representing the best knowledge of the current distribution of this mosquito based on collection records. Counties with black dots had new surveillance records in this update. Counties shown in white had no reported presence records within the specified time period. Counties shown in yellow had presence records for one year within the specified time period, orange indicates those that had two years of presence records within the specified time period, and those shown in red had three or more years of presence records within the specified time period.
