Fear of insects is one of the most common human phobias. In addition to the unsightly appearance, flies, mosquitoes, and ticks often pose a threat to humans. The rat fleas that gave birth to the plague of the 14th century are a vivid confirmation of this.
An uncountable number of insects live around, the sizes of which are so small that these creatures seem completely harmless. But this is a misconception. Many of them are capable of causing great harm to people.
Rat fleas
Rat fleas are tiny insects that, contrary to their name, can also be found in pets. But still the most dangerous are fleas that live on the body of a rat - a carrier of terrible diseases and bacteria. It was rat fleas that caused the Black Plague of the 14th century in Europe, which claimed the lives of several tens of millions of people.
In the 19th century, the epidemic flared up again, affecting 6 million people in India. Today, these bacteria are more dangerous for third world countries, since the sanitary conditions and the level of medicine in the United States and European countries do not allow the spread of this disease.
Malaria mosquito
Mosquitoes live wherever the air temperature reaches 10 ° C and above, they are most active in the evening hours. Most mosquitoes do not threaten human life and health, but some representatives of this species are carriers of various serious diseases: encephalitis, yellow fever, malaria.
Malaria is especially common in tropical and African countries. Up to 500 million people a year suffer from the bites of anopheles mosquitoes, the death rate reaches 3 million people a year.
90% of cases of human infection from the bite of this insect occur in African countries, where practically no measures are taken to combat malaria. However, even in the United States, 1000 cases of the disease were recorded, of which 8 were fatal.
Ixodid ticks
These parasites are carriers of encephalitis and are found throughout the globe, including the Arctic and Antarctic. The consequences of tick-borne encephalitis can be very different: from recovery to death or disability. The fact is that encephalitis affects the central nervous system, and urgent hospitalization is necessary if an infected tick bites.
On the territory of the Russian Federation alone, about 3000 cases of encephalitis tick bite are annually recorded, and up to 50 cases with a lethal outcome.
Fly Tsetse
This is a large fly, reaching 1.5 cm in size. Distributed in Africa. The bite of these insects causes sleeping sickness, in which the nervous system malfunctions: bouts of fatigue are replaced by hyperactivity. In Uganda, over 200,000 people have died from sleeping sickness in the past 6 years.
