Question

Name any two common vectors which help in the transmission of disease.

Answer 1

Vector-borne diseases account for more than seventeen percent of all infectious diseases, causing more than 700000 deaths annually. They can be caused either by parasites, bacteria, or viruses.

Complete Answer:
- Vectors are living organisms that can convey infectious pathogens between humans or from animals to humans. Many of these vectors are parasitic insects, which consume disease-producing microorganisms during a blood meal from an infected human or animal and later pass on it into a new host, after the pathogen has simulated, over and over again.
- Once a vector becomes infectious, they are able to transmit the pathogen for the rest of their life during each consequent bite. Vector-borne diseases are human illnesses caused by parasites, viruses, and bacteria that are transmitted by vectors. Each year there are more than 700,000 deaths from diseases such as malaria, dengue, schistosomiasis, trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, Japanese encephalitis, and onchocerciasis.
- Mosquitoes can transmit dissimilar infectious pathogens and parasites that cause diseases such as dengue, Zika, Chikungunya, West Nile fever, or malaria. Thus, the mosquitoes are called disease vectors. So a mosquito has to bite a sick human first, thereby infecting itself with the pathogen.
- Mosquitoes are vectors for many central diseases. Being a vector means that it carries a disease from one host to the other. Many of these diseases have a wide allocation, high mortality rate, and a high number of cases but some do not.
- Trypanosomiasis is transmitted to man and animals through a blood-sucking insect, the tsetse fly. Tsetse flies comprise all the species in the genus Glossina. Transmission of trypanosomiasis involves some interacting organisms.
- The human host, the insect vector, the pathogenic parasite, and the domestic and wild animal reservoirs. Glossina is well-organized vectors and is responsible for linking these organisms and any fall in their numbers should lead to considerably reduced transmission.

Note: Vector-Borne disease is a disease that results from an infection transmitted to humans and other animals by blood-feeding arthropods. They include mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas. Some examples of vector-borne diseases include dengue fever, West Nile Virus, Lyme disease, and malaria.