Mosquito-borne disease
Mosquito-borne diseases or mosquito-borne illnesses are diseases caused by bacteria, viruses or parasites transmitted by mosquitoes. They can transmit disease without being affected themselves. Nearly 700 million people get a mosquito-borne illness each year resulting in over one million deaths.
Culex quinquefasciatus
The southern house mosquito transmits zoonotic diseases that affect humans and wild and domestic animals, such as lymphatic filariasis, avian malaria, St. Louis encephalitis, Western equine encephalitis, and West Nile fever, and may be a vector of the Zika virus. It causes infection through biting during blood meal. In the southern U.S., it is the primary vector of St. Louis encephalitis virus. In India and Southeast Asia, it is the primary vector of "Wuchereria bancrofti", a nematode that causes lymphatic filariasis. It acts as an intermediate host for the helminth parasite by harbouring the larval stages. It also transmits "Plasmodium relictum", a malarial parasite of birds, and is its principal vector in Hawaii. It is the definitive host for the malarial parasite as it harbours the sexual cycle.