MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY
CHAPTER ONE:
INTRODUCTION
Definition of terms
Entomology: It is a science that deals with the study of arthropods in general, and incorporates
sciences like zoology,biology, parasitology and micro-biology.
Arthropods: “Arthro” means jointed and “Poda” means legs.
Arthropods are invertebrate animals with jointed-legs and identified by their peculiar
characteristics.
Members of the phylum arthropoda are the most numerous and widely distributed of all
animal groups.
Their medical importance lies in their ability to cause morbidity and mortality, and their
extensive distribution over the face of the earth.
They may be found in every part of the world and in every type of environment.
Many, particularly those within the class insecta and arachnida, live in close association
with humans; others while primarily parasites of animals, will readily attack or feed upon
humans and some may specifically adapt as human parasites.
Medical Entomology:
This is a branch of entomology which deals with arthropods which affect the health and
well-being of man and vertebrate animals.
In other words, medical entomology is the medical science directly concerned with
vectors that affect human and animal health.
There are also other branches of entomology. For example:Industrial Entomology/Economical
Entomology:deals with industrially or economically important arthropods (industrial pests).
• Agricultural Entomology: - Agricultural pest science dealing with arthropods that affect
plants and animals.
IMPORTANCE OF ARTHROPODS IN PARASITOLOGY
Arthropods affect the health of man by being:
(a) Direct agents for disease /discomfort.
The following effects may be seen by the direct effect of arthropods.
• Annoyance – comes from disruptive activities of insects, such as flying around or
landing on the head, and from feeding, possibly causing blood loss, though they don’t
remove sufficient blood to cause a medical problem in humans.
• Entomophobia – is an irrational fear of insects.
One extreme form of entomophobia is delusory parasitosis, in which individuals become
convinced that they are infested with insects when no actual infestation exists.
This may cause undue alarm and anxiety, leading to unwarranted use of insecticides, and
in severe cases, requiring professional treatment.
• Envenomization – is the introduction of a poison into the body of humans and animals.
Arthropods may also inoculate poison to the host. E.g. Scorpion
• Allergic reactions – a hypersensitive response to insect proteins.
All of the mechanisms associated with envenomization can also cause exposure to
allergens.
In fact, human deaths from bee and wasp stings usually are associated with a
hypersensitive reaction rather than direct effect of a toxin.
• Dermatosis and dermatitis – dermatosis is a disease of the skin and dermatitis is an
inflammation of the skin.
Both dermatosis and dermatitis can be caused by arthropod activities.
Many mite species, such as scabies mites produce acute skin irritations.
(b) Agents for disease transmission
Arthropods can carry disease causative agents in the following two ways.
Mechanical carrier
Biological carrier
Mechanical disease transmission:
Disease agents are carried from one host to another by arthropods simply mechanically
carried by the body parts (example wings, hairs,feces, vomitus, etc).
In this type of disease transmission no change takes place in the number, form or
developmental stages of the organism, but simply deposited in the body, food or drink of
the host.
Biological disease transmission:
The agent will exhibit changes in form and or number of developmental stages in
the arthropod before entry to the host.
This includes hereditary (transovarian) and transital transmissions:
Propagative,cyclodevelopmental and cyclopropagative.
Propagative:
In propagative type of disease transmission only the number of pathogens increases and
the developmental stage remain constant.
The diseases plague and typhus are good examples of propagative type of disease
transmission.
Cyclo-developmental:
In this type of disease transmission, only the
developmental stage (form) of the disease pathogen is changed (small to big, immature to
matured stage,etc.), while the number of the pathogenic organism remains constant.
Example Filariasis
Cyclo-propagative:
This type of disease transmission is a combination of both propagative and cyclo-
developmental; whereby the disease pathogen undertakes a change both in number and
developmental form (stage).
Example:Malaria.
Trans ovarian/ Trans-stadial transmission:
It is a type of disease transmission, whereas the
causative agent is transmitted to the immature stage (usually to the egg) from the adult
insects and / or other arthropods which carry disease pathogens.
When the infected egg completes its developmental
stage; it becomes infective or can transmit the disease to man and other animals.
Ticks and sand flies are very good examples of arthropods that exhibit hereditary disease
transmission.
Existing public health problems
In tropical countries, the largest groups of illnesses are pobably insect-borne.
It is therefore, important to know the habits of the insect vectors and how they transmit
diseases.
It is difficult to implement control measures of insects, without some knowledge of
entomology and specifically medical entomology.
To this effect, this course is concerned with the study of arthropods (especially of insects)
that are of public health importance.
Due to their occurrence in large numbers in domestic situations, the problems of
arthropods include spoiling food and other materials by their feeding habits, causing
nuisance and perhaps being involved in the transmission of infectious organisms.
Others feed on domestic fabrics and structure of buildings, rendering them unusable or
unsound.
Moreover, a wide array of arthropods cause toxic reactions in vertebrates.
The cause of intoxication may be direct (bites, stings, defensive secretions) or indirect
because of hypersensitivity(allergy).
Arthropod borne diseases
DISEASE TRANSMITTED
1.Mosquitoes: Anopheles: Culex: Aedes: Mansonoides:
Malaria, Filaria, Bancroftian filariasis, Japanese encephalitis, West Nile Fever ,Viral
Arthritis (Epidemic/ polyarthritis) Yellow fever, Dengue Dengue Haemorrhagic
fever ,Chikungunya fever Chikungunya haemorrhagic fever ,Rift Valley fever
2.House flies
Bacterial: Typhoid, Diarrhoea, Paratyphoid, Dysentries
Viral: Polio Myelitis ,Viral conjunctivitis
Parasitic: Amoebiasis ,Helminthic Infestations
3.Sand fly :Kala azar, Oriental sore
4 Tse Tse fly: Sleeping sickness
5 Black fly: Onchocerciasis
6.Louse :Epidemic typhus, Relapsing fever ,Trench Fever
7. Rat flea: Bubonic plague Endemic typhus,
(Rodent- vector for the transmission of Hantavirus)
8 Reduviid bug :Chagas disease
9.Tick: Hard Ticks: Tick Typhus Hemorrhagic fever Relapsing fever,Tuleremia etc.
Soft Ticks: Kyasanur forest Disease(KFD), Q Fever
10.Mite: Scrub typhus, Scabies
11.Cyclops: Guinea worm disease
