There are many diseases caused by parasitic infections, one of which is filariasis or better known as elephantiasis . Filariasis is a disease caused by filarial worms.
Most filariasis is caused by the filarial worm Wucheria bancrofti and some of them are caused by Brugia malayi and Brugia timori .
Filarial worms infect millions of people every year, causing them to suffer from elephantiasis. To understand how filarial worms infect humans, here is the life cycle of filarial worms !
The life cycle of filarial worms in the human body
The life cycle of filarial worms occurs in two hosts, namely humans and mosquitoes.
Larvae enter the human body
The initial stages of the filarial worm life cycle are worm larvae that enter the human body through mosquito bites.
Previously, filarial worm larvae had developed inside the mosquito's body. When a mosquito bites a human, the filarial worm larvae enter the human body.
Filarial worm larvae develop in the human body
Inside the human body, the larvae then develop into adult worms. Female filarial worms can grow up to 100 mm in length and 0.3 mm in diameter.
Meanwhile, male worms have a smaller size with a length of 40 mm and a diameter of 0.1 mm.
Reporting from Encyclopedia Britannica , the early inflammatory stage is characterized by lesions, swelling, circulatory disorders and enlargement and widening of the lymph channels.
This causes the legs and lower body of people infected with filarial worms to swell and enlarge, so the kerp is known as elephantiasis .
Filarial worms produce microfilariae
Reporting from the World Health Organization , filarial worms can live for six to eight years in the human body.
Throughout their lifetime, worms will reproduce and produce millions of microfilariae in the blood and skin of infected humans.
Microfilariae are immature larvae of filarial worms. Microfilariae then move actively in the blood and lymph channels.
The life cycle of filarial worms in the mosquito's body
The filarial worm's life cycle then continues in the body of an intermediate host, namely the mosquito.
Mosquito sucks infected blood
When a person with filariasis is bitten by a mosquito, the microflaria will be swallowed and enter the mosquito's body.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , the microfilariae then lose their sheath and migrate through the proventriculus wall and the heart of the mosquito's midgut and reach the chest muscles.
Filarial worm larvae develop in the mosquito's body
The microfilariae then develop into first-stage filarial worm larvae in the mosquito's chest muscle. Filarial worm larvae continue to develop inside the mosquito's body.
In the end, the larvae will migrate to the prosbocis of the mosquito. Prosbocis is a female mosquito's mouth structure that penetrates human skin.
The mosquito will then bite the human, transmit the filarial worm larvae, and start their life cycle all over again.
Types of Human Bloodsucking Mosquitoes
that Aedes aegypti mosquito causes dengue fever is a type of mosquito that sucks human blood. These mosquitoes like to be in places with minimal lighting and like to roam in the afternoon or evening.
In breeding, the Aedes aegypti mosquito likes to lay eggs in humid places. For example, bathtubs, puddles, buckets and other places.
However, did you know that only female mosquitoes like to suck human blood? How come?
Reporting from the Forest Preserve District of DuPage Country , human blood has the perfect nutrition for breeding mosquito eggs. These nutrients make the perfect prenatal supplement for mosquito eggs.
In addition, female mosquitoes also have organs that detect carbon dioxide that animals and humans emit when they breathe. Female mosquitoes can also capture the thermal temperature of the human body.
Then what about male mosquitoes?
It turns out that male mosquitoes do not have a special mouth for piercing human skin. So they get their food from plant juices, such as flower nectar.
mosquitoes human blood-sucking
Quoting from the National Geographic , there are more than three thousand species of mosquitoes in the world. Most of these mosquitoes are often found everywhere, but some are only found in certain areas.
There are three types of mosquitoes that are considered the most dangerous in the world, because these mosquitoes transmit deadly diseases. What are those?
- The Anopheles can transmit malaria, filariasis and encephalitis.
- They transmit disease by attaching parasites to the body of their host.
- mosquitoes Culex that can transmit West Nile virus, encephalitis and filariasis.
- The mode of transmission is almost the same as the Anopheles .
- mosquito Aedes can transmit yellow fever, dengue fever and encephalitis. The mode of transmission is by sucking the blood of humans who are infected with the disease and transmitting it when sucking the blood of other humans.
When mosquitoes feed on human blood, they pierce the skin with two needles. First to inject blood clotting inhibitory enzymes. The second is to suck human blood.
mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus known as mosquitoes human blood-sucking These two types of mosquitoes are also known as intermediaries for transmission of dengue fever.
The most easily recognizable physical features are the black and white colors found on the legs and body of mosquitoes. In addition, these mosquitoes are very fond of breeding in humid places.
The female mosquito takes three days after feeding on human blood to lay eggs in standing water, such as bathtubs and other watery places.
When the rainy season arrives, the production of mosquito eggs will increase because the air tends to be humid, so the number of mosquitoes is more.