Mosquitoes that spread diseases

In Southeast Asia the most dangerous mosquitoes are the Yellow Fever mosquito (Aedes Aegypti) and the Asian Tiger mosquito (Aedes Albopictus). Both mosquitoes are able to spread a variety of, potentially, life threatening diseases like dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and zika. Because mosquitoes need blood meals to produce their eggs, they are able to carry blood containing viruses from one infected person to the next person. Inside the mosquito the viruses multiply and end up in the saliva of the mosquito. This saliva is injected into the next person to keep open the wound that was made to start sucking blood. This is how mosquitoes transmit diseases. (Page continues under video).

Most Dangerous Mosquitoes in Southeast Asia

The Yellow Fever mosquito

The yellow fever mosquito or Aedes Aegypti, is a mosquito that is responsible for spreading Dengue fever, Chikungunya, Zika and Yellow fever. It is at the top of dangerous mosquitoes in Southeast Asia.
This mosquito likes to hide in cooler dark places and when having the choice will prefer inside shelter. The yellow Fever mosquito is an aggressive biter and is most active a few hours after sunrise and a few hours before sunset. A bite from a yellow fever mosquito is on average less noticeable than a bite of the Asian Tiger mosquito.
The eggs of the mosquito can survive several month without water or moisture and the eggs will hatch after rains or floodings. The mosquito prefers living close to human habitats and is therefore a typical urban mosquito.
The yellow fever mosquito is rather small and has a dark appearance with white strips on the legs and body.
Two white stripes on the upper body (thorax) distinguish it from the Asian Tiger mosquito that has only one broad stripe on the thorax.

The Asian Tiger mosquito

The Asian Tiger mosquito or Aedes Albopictus, derives it name from its rather painful (tiger like) bite. The mosquito is a vector (= an animal that transmits diseases) for Dengue fever, Chikungunya and West Nile virus. This mosquito holds the second place of most dangerous mosquitoes in Southeast Asia.
The Asian Tiger mosquito spends most time in the vegetation around human habitats, in urban, semi-urban and rural areas. The mosquito is an opportunistic biter and will bite throughout the day. As with the yellow fever mosquito it breeds in plant dishes, water buckets, rain gutters, birdbaths and other objects that can hold (small amounts of) water. It prefers to fly low above the ground and will not fly much further than 200 meters from its breeding site. This mosquito is black in color and has one broad white stripe on the thorax.
The artificial human attractant that we use in our mosquito traps was specifically designed to attract mosquitoes of the Aedes family (as well as mosquitoes of the Culex family).