Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!yale!kauffman-jon From: kauffman-jon@CS.YALE.EDU (Jon Kauffman) Newsgroups: sci.bio Subject: Re: What's the Why and How of Mosquito Bites? Summary: Mosquitoes not a vector. Message-ID: <69832@yale-celray.yale.UUCP> Date: 17 Aug 89 02:27:44 GMT References: <5399@mtgzy.att.com> <4948@tank.uchicago.edu> <9263@chinet.chi.il.us> <6704@cs.utexas.edu> <9279@chinet.chi.il.us> <24875@joyce.istc.sri.com> Sender: root@yale.UUCP Reply-To: kauffman-jon@CS.YALE.EDU (Jon Kauffman) Followup-To: sci.bio Organization: Yale University Computer Science Dept, New Haven CT 06520-2158 Lines: 26 Um, I seem to remember an article which describes a study in St Augustine, Florida, a locale know for its mosquito population. The idea is that many other things being equal (I cannot comment on how equal they really are), if mosquitos were a vector, then all age groups would be affected equally, since mosquitoes aren't particularly choosy. The study concluded that this was not the case: there were few (maybe none, at least in the sample, don't really remember) cases among the elderly and pre-adolescents. I assume that the inhabitants of the city all had about the same chances of being bitten. I apologize for not being able to quote a real source, hopefully someone in net.land can help me out. If someone wants to claim that the elderly and young are protected in some other way, or that they somehow avoid mosquito bites, you're welcome to do so; I claim no expertise in epidemiology/insect vectors. Just hoped I could muddy the waters a bit more. /jon ====================================================================== Jonathan Kauffman kauffman@cs.yale.edu Yale CS Facility {harvard,decvax}!yale!kauffman ======================================================================