Cruel Summer: Asian Tiger Mosquitoes

This article is about Asian tigers you don’t see at the zoo, if you’re lucky. If you live in the northeast, this is going to be a cruel, cruel summer for mosquitoes. Actually, it’ll be crueler for you than the mosquitoes. Experts now say that an aggressive invasive species called the Asian Tiger Mosquito is swarming the region.

If you can call mosquitoes pretty, the Asian tiger mosquito is, with a black body with multiple white stripes like a tiger. It’s so tiny, though, you’d need a magnifying glass to appreciate it, and by then it’s already bitten you and gone on its merry way.

The Asian Tiger mosquito, originally from tropical southeast Asia, is now found in 27 states, Europe, and South America. It first arrived in this country in 1986, in a shipment of tires. It doesn’t have to live in wetlands, so it closely associates with human communities, and that’s bad news.

Most mosquito bites occur in the dawn or dusk hours, but this species is active and continues to bite all day long, even in the middle of that barbecue you’re having. It’s dangerous because it can transmit more than 20 diseases, including West Nile fever, dengue fever, yellow fever, St. Louis encephalitis, and a number of others. The Asian Tiger Mosquito does not, however, carry malaria; a different genus known as Anopheles is the culprit.

Continued: http://www.doomandbloom.net/cruel-summer-asian-tiger-mosquitos/