Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the Americas: A review of their interactions with the human population
- 1 January 1986
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Elsevier BV in Social Science & Medicine
- Vol. 23 (3), 249-257
- https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(86)90345-x
Abstract
This paper describes the significant changes in the relationship between Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and the human population in the Americas from the 1800s to present. First, the history of the arrival of the mosquito, the consequent epidemics of yellow fever and dengue, and the eventual implication of the mosquito as vector is described. Second, the Pan American Health Organization's Aedes aegypti Eradication Program is discussed and the potential threat to the Americas of development of the dengue hemorraghic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS) is emphasized. Third, the limited efforts of the United States to control its A. aegypti population, which has serious implications for the success of the control of the species in the rest of the Americas, are commented upon. It is shown, in conclusion, that politics and economics, in addition to the state of biomedical knowledge, have a significant impact on the relationship between the mosquito and human populations in the Western hemisphere.Keywords
This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit:
- Epidemic Dengue Fever in Puerto Rico, 1977: a Cost AnalysisThe American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 1979
- Aedes Aegypti in Puerto Rico: Environmental Determinants of Larval Abundance and Relation to Dengue Virus Transmission *The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 1978
- Dengue Fever with Hemorrhagic Manifestations: a Report of Three Cases from Puerto RicoThe American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 1978
- The Interplay Between Socio-Economic Factors and Medical Science: Yellow Fever Research, Cuba and the United StatesSocial Studies of Science, 1978
- The Emperor's New Clothes Revisited, or Reflections on the Pathogenesis of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever *The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 1977
- Dengue Outbreaks in Guánica-Ensenada and Villalba, Puerto Rico, 1972–1973The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 1976
- AN EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDY OF DENGUE TYPE 2 IN PUERTO RICO, 19691American Journal of Epidemiology, 1973
- Pandemic Dengue in Caribbean Countries and the Southern United States — Past, Present and Potential ProblemsNew England Journal of Medicine, 1971
- Aedes aegypti eradication program of the United States--progress report 1965.American Journal of Public Health and the Nations Health, 1967
- Relationships between the Flying Fox (Genus Pteropus) and Arthropod-borne Fevers of North QueenslandNature, 1955