More than just annoying summertime pests, mosquitoes are also responsible for spreading malaria, a disease that kills over half a million people every year. When Ronald Ross discovered that mosquitoes transmit malaria in 1897, he revolutionized our understanding of the disease and led to increased awareness about malaria prevention.
Today, the best way to prevent the disease is to avoid bites by infected mosquitoes. Insecticide-treated nets, preventive treatment for pregnant women and infants, and indoor residual spraying are all ways to reduce transmission, but the prevalence of mosquitoes in hard-hit areas like Sub-Saharan Africa pose a challenge to eradication measures.
Mosquitoes, those tiny blood-sucking insects, are responsible for transmitting serious diseases such as malaria. With no vaccine currently available, malaria — an ancient disease that began afflicting humans from the beginning of agriculture and modern civilization — remains a deadly threat to people around the world. Caused by Plasmodium parasites, malaria shows up in historic texts as far back as the first millennium BCE. In fact, the first traces of malaria parasites were found in mosquito remains that are over 30 million years old!
Malaria has affected every continent except Antarctica, and remains a widespread problem in parts of the world including Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Caribbean. Over 200 million people still contract malaria each year. In 2010, 90% of malaria deaths occured in Africa. The World Health Organization reports concerns about drug-resistant malaria, which can hamper efforts to reduce the spread of the disease.
World Mosquito Day honors the date when Sir Ronald Ross, a British army surgeon working in India, proved that mosquitoes transmit malaria by identifying pigmented malaria parasites in mosquitoes that fed on an infected patient. This discovery revolutionized our knowledge of the disease and led to new preventive measures. Ross won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1902.
Ross declared the first World Mosquito Day then and there, stating that the world must be made aware of the link between mosquitoes and malaria. Although an improved understanding of the disease has led to more innovative preventive measures and medical treatments, a malaria vaccine remains elusive.
