Human Disease Causing Viruses Vectored by Mosquitoes

There are a number of disease-causing viruses transmitted to people primarily through the bite of infected mosquitoes. Female mosquitoes take blood meals to produce eggs. A mosquito that bites an infected animal may pick up a virus within the blood meal. If the mosquito is the appropriate species, and conditions inside the insect and the surrounding environment are supportive, the virus reproduces within the mosquito. Later, the mosquito may pass the virus on to other animals (including humans) as they feed again.