The Deadly Reality: Mosquitoes Are the Most Dangerous Creatures on Earth

When it comes to the most dangerous creatures for people, spiders, snakes, sharks, lions, etc. come to mind first of all. They actually kill a lot of people every year. But, if we measure the degree of danger by the number of people killed per year, then they are all quite harmless compared to one small insect, which, according to various estimates, kills from 500 thousand to more than a million people a year. However, unlike snakes and spiders, no one is usually afraid of him. Perhaps even now, when you are reading this article, it is somewhere near you. Guess what kind of insect we are talking about?

Mosquitoes are the most dangerous creatures on earth

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has called the mosquito “the deadliest animal in the world”. How reports the World Economic ForumMosquitoes kill more people in a year than sharks in a hundred years. The reason why mosquitoes are so deadly is that they are carriers of dangerous diseases that infect people when they drink blood. Why mosquitoes drink blood, we talked in detail earlier.

Malaria ranks first in terms of danger among diseases transmitted by mosquito bites. It is caused by unicellular organisms belonging to the genus Plasmodium. As you know, malaria occurs not only in the southern regions, but even in central Russia. According to the WHO, a total of 619,000 people died from this disease in 2021.

The disease, although treatable, for people at risk, it is a deadly threat. These people include small children, pregnant women, people with immunodeficiency, etc. According to WHO, 80% of malaria deaths in Africa are children under the age of five.

Малярия в средней полосе является сезонным заболеванием. Пик приходится на июнь - начало июля. Поэтому в данный период времени необходимо быть особенно осторожным.

Why Mosquitoes Are the Deadliest Creatures

Malaria is far from the only disease that can be contracted from mosquitoes. They are also carriers of dengue fever, chikungunya, West Nile virus, Zika virus, lymphatic filariasis, etc. We talked about what diseases can be contracted from these blood-sucking insects in detail earlier. In a year, they in total infect about 700 million people a year.

The main danger from mosquitoes is that they share the ecosystem and resources with us. These insects cannot reproduce without water, and humans need water to live. In addition, mosquitoes are small and inconspicuous. Sometimes we just ignore them. All this allows them to freely transfer pathogens from one person to another.

But as recent studies show, this is not the only reason why mosquitoes are effective carriers of some diseases. There are viruses, such as dengue, that alter the RNA of mosquitoes so that they can infect humans more effectively. Of course, this does not apply to all diseases, but only to some viral ones.

I must say that due to global warming, mosquitoes are an increasingly dangerous threat, as their habitat is expanding. Accordingly, dangerous diseases cover new territories every year.

How to protect yourself from mosquitoes

Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to completely avoid mosquito bites. However, there are some steps you can take to significantly reduce the risk of infection. The most effective way is to keep mosquitoes out of your home. To do this, it is enough to install mosquito nets on the windows.

If mosquitoes have already flown into your home, a fumigator will help get rid of them. If you go to nature or just for an evening walk, you can protect yourself from mosquito bites with a special mosquito spray.

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As for other deadly animals, snakes can be put in second place after mosquitoes. They kill between 81,000 and 138,000 people every year. Also dangerous animals include dogs, which are the cause of the death of about 59 thousand people a year, what the WHO says. Of course, dogs do not kill people on their own, but infect with rabies. This is a dangerous viral disease that leads to death when infected in almost 100% of cases. Fortunately, mosquitoes do not carry rabies.