Medical Entomology

Introduction to Medical Entomology

By the end of this chapter the learner will be able

to:
1. Identify existing public health problems with regard to
arthropods

2. Define important terms with regard to the subject matter

 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.
• 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:
a) Industrial Entomology/Economical Entomology:
- deals with industrially or economically important
arthropods (industrial pests).

b) Agricultural Entomology: - Agricultural pest

science dealing with arthropods that affect plants
and animals.
• Mechanical disease transmission: disease agents are
carried from one host to another by arthropods simply
mechanically carried by the body parts (e.g. wings,
hairs, faeces, 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.
a) Propagative: - In this type of disease transmission
only the number of pathogens increases and the
developmental stage remain constant e.g. plague
and typhus.

b) Cyclo-developmental: - In this 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
organisms remains constant e.g. Filariasis
Cyclo-propagative: - This type of transmission is a
combination of both propagative and cyclo-
developmental; whereby the disease pathogen
undertakes a change both in number and developmental
form (stage) e.g. Malaria.

Trans-ovarian/Trans-stadial transmission: - Here, 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 e.g. Ticks and sand flies.
 ARTHROPODS AND THEIR IDENTIFICATION

Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, the learner will be able to:
1. List common characteristics for the identification of
2. arthropods
3. Explain briefly taxonomy of arthropods
4. Describe biological functions of arthropods
5. Identify the arthropod habitat
6. Explain importance of arthropods
7. Discuss about the war against arthropods
 Common Identification Characteristics of
Arthropods
Arthropods are grouped under the animal
kingdom. They are invertebrate animals. Despite
the enormous diversity found among them, they
all share the following common characteristics:

1. Bilaterally symmetrical body sub-divided into segments.

2. Body covered with exoskeleton which is made up of a
tough and rigid substance known as chitin.
3. Jointed appendages are present on some body segments.
4. Body cavity between the alimentary canal and the body wall.
5. Open circulatory system that works by diffusion unlike the
arteries and veins in higher animals like humans which are
the closed type.
• Have ventral ladder type of nervous system: These are
• called ganglia and are situated at different places in the
• body of the arthropod with a ladder type linkage:
message
• passes from one ganglia to the other and finally to the
big
• ganglia at the head trough nerves.
• 7. Growth by molting, which is controlled by hormones
Taxonomy (Scientific Classification) of
Arthropods
• The formal naming of arthropods/insects follows the
rules of nomenclature developed for all animals.
• Formal scientific names are required for an
unambiguous communication
• between scientists, no matter what their native
language
• amongst the thousands used worldwide.
 Definition of terms
• Entomology: - the science that deals with the study of
arthropods in general, and includes 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.
• 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 e.g.:
• 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.
 Arthropods
• The phylum Arthropoda contains about 78% of all
known species of animals

• They live on land, in the sea and air, and make up

over three-fourths of all currently known living and
fossil organisms

• They have been called the dominant animals on earth

 Major characteristics
1. Arthropoda means jointed foot. Members of this phylum
have jointed appendages (these appendages may be modified in
a number of ways to form antennae, mouthparts, and reproductive
organs)

2. Arthropods are bilaterally symmetrical

3. They are triploblastic

4. Like molluscs, arthropods possess a much reduced coelom
(but there are larger cavities around the alimentary canal
which are not true coelomic cavities. They are filled by blood
and are called haemocoeles

5. Arthropods have a hardened exoskeleton made of chitin that

may be further stiffened by calcium carbonate (CaCO3) (the
exoskeleton is non-expandable and as an individual grows, it must shed
the exoskeleton and replace it with a new larger exoskeleton. The process
is called moulting)
6. They have segmented bodies (some species show various
patterns of segment fusing to form integrated units e.g. fusion
of the head and thorax to form the cephalothorax)

7. Many have diverse and specialised mouthparts

8. Arthropods have a well-developed ventral nervous

system

9. Most of them possess a dorsal circulatory system

Classification of Arthropoda

The are two subphyla and six classes

of Arthropods
SUBPHYLUM Mandibulata (There 4 classes that possess jaws)

• Class Crustacea (includes crayfish, lobsters, shrimp crabs,

Daphnia [water flea], copepods, and sow bugs)

• Class Insecta (includes insects)

• Class Chilopoda (the centipedes)

• Class Diplopoda (the millipedes)

 SUBPHYLUM Chelicerata (There are 2 classes that lack jaws)

• Class Arachnida (includes spiders, scorpions, mites and ticks)

• Class Xiphosura (the horseshoe crab)

• We will look at the Class of Insects in a little more

detail
 Class: Insecta
1. Insect bodies are divided into three regions
– Head – bears the sense organs (eyes etc.) and mouthparts
– Thorax – bears 3 pairs of legs and 1/2 pair of wings
– Abdomen – bears or contains most of the internal organs

2. They have hard exoskeleton made of chitin (moult)

3. They breath air and respire by trachea through
holes in the body called spiracles
4. There are three pairs of jointed legs
5. Insects are dioceous, sexes are separate
6. Insects usually have 1 or 2 pairs of wings in the
adult stage
7. They have simple eyes (ocelli) and compound eyes
8. The coelom is very much reduced in insects
9. The circulatory system is an open system that
includes a haemocoel.
 Classification of insects
• There are 25 Orders of insects the 10 common Orders)
1. Order Thysanura – silverfish
2. Order Isoptera – termites
3. Order Orthoptera – grasshoppers, crickets
4. Order Lepidoptera – butterflies, moths
5. Order Hemiptera – stink bugs (true bugs)
6. Order Diptera – flies, gnats
7. Order Odonata – dragon flies, damselflies
8. Order Hymenoptera – wasps, bees, ants
9. Order Coleoptera – beetles
10. Order Homoptera – lacewings, plant lice
 Metamorphosis
• Metamorphosis is a change in shape and form that
some animals, e.g. insects, undergo during
development e.g. live stage of the mosquito
– Eggs are laid in water and hatch into ..
– Larvae that are commonly called wigglers, that transform
into
– Pupae that mature and change to form
– Young adults that leave the water to become adult
mosquitoes
With regard to their growth and development,
insects can be divided into 4 groups:
1. No metamorphosis – these insects have no metamorphosis
at all. The young hatch from the egg as the same form as
the adult and merely grow larger

2. Incomplete metamorphosis – e.g. dragonflies, stoneflies

and mayflies. They have a distinctive stage between the egg
and adult called a naiad. The naiad bears no resemblance to
the adult.

• Eggs are laid in water and hatch into aquatic naiads. Naiads
grow by successive moults and after the last moult emerge from the water as
adults
3. Gradual metamorphosis – For insects with this
type of metamorphosis the stage between the egg
and adult is called a nymph.

• The nymph usually resembles the adult in general body

features, but usually lacks wings and genital appendages
e.g. grasshopper, true bugs
4. Complete metamorphosis – Many insects undergo
complete metamorphosis during development e.g.
mosquito, butterflies

• Each stage is very distinctive and usually very unlike

any other stage
 The study of insects is termed entomology

• Medical entomology deals with the relationship of

insects and other arthropods to the health of humans,
domestic animals and wildlife. It has two primary
subdivisions:

– Public Health Entomology, the study of arthropods and

human health; and

– Veterinary Entomology, the study of arthropods and their

effects on pets, livestock and wildlife
• The distinction between the two is often not distinct: -
in many cases, the same species of arthropods cause diseases in both
human hosts and other vertebrate animals

• Most arthropod-borne infectious diseases are

zoonoses i.e. diseases that primarily affect animals other than humans,
but also can cause human ailments
 Methods of Disease Transmission

• A disease is any condition that represents a departure

from a normal or healthy condition in an organism e.g.
traumatic conditions such as broken bones,
inflammatory skin conditions caused by toxic
substances, or infections caused by pathogens.

• Arthropods can cause diseases directly (2-component

relationship), or

• Can serve as vectors or hosts of pathogenic microorganisms (3-

component relationships)
• An insect is a vector when it transmits pathogens or
parasites from one animal (including man) to another
e.g. Anopheles mosquitoes

• Some insects are accidental vectors and the methods

of transferring the disease organisms are simple and
relatively inefficient e.g. houseflies – in this case the pathogen
undergoes no morphological change/multiplication on the fly, which acts
solely as a mechanical vector.
• More sophisticated relationship between insect
vectors and pathogens when transmission to man, or
animal, occurs only after the pathogens have undergone
multiplication and/or some form of development within the
insect.

• This is referred to as cyclical transmission of a

disease - there is an ‘incubation period’ (usually between 7-12
days) in the insect before the pathogens have undergone
multiplication, morphological changes or migration and are in the
correct state and place to be transferred to a new host .
• In a few vectors e.g. ticks and mites, pathogens
(viruses, spirochaetes and rickettsiae) penetrate the
vectors ovaries.

• As a result, immature stages which hatch from the eggs

are already infected and persists to the adult stage.

• Consequently, larval and nymphal stages (immature

forms) and adults can transmit (this is called transovarial
transmission)
 Insect-man contact
• The degree of association between hosts (man or
animals) and arthropods (insects, mites, ticks) varies
considerably;
a) Biting flies such as mosquitoes settle on a host for only
relatively short periods to take blood meals

b) Triatomine bugs remain longer on a host while taking

blood meals

c) Some species of ticks may feed on a host for several days

before dropping off
• Head, body and pubic lice are true ectoparasites of
man and remain more/less permanently attached to
his hairs or clothing.

• An even closer relationship exists between scabies

mites which live in the surface layer of man’s skin.

• Certain blood-sucking insects feed commonly or

preferentially on man and have the potential to be
efficient disease vectors.
 Specificity of vector-parasite relationships:
The degree of susceptibility and specificity of vectors for pathogens and
parasites varies greatly

• There is often little specificity with mechanical

vectors e.g. any flies landing on excreta and man’s food can in theory
transmit a variety of enteric pathogens

• In practice however, some insects are more efficient

as mechanical vectors than others because of their
behaviour and habits e.g. the true housefly, (Musca domestica) is a
more efficient mechanical vector of cholera, typhoid and various
dysenteries than other closely related flies because it is more likely to settle
on excreta and food than most other flies.
• With several other diseases there is greater specificity
of the parasites for an insect vector.

• This is not because of their ecology or behaviour but

because only in certain species can the parasites
multiply and undergo development
a) e.g. malaria is transmitted to man only by mosquitoes of the genus
Anopheles, because the parasites are unable to survive/develop in
other genera of mosquitoes
b) Similarly, yellow fever is transmitted in Africa from man to man
almost entirely by Aedes aegypti
• A further complication is that a vector species may
not have uniform behaviour throughout its range e.g.
Aedes simpsoni commonly bites man in some areas of Africa and is
involved in the rural cycle of yellow fever transmission, whereas in other
areas it rarely feeds on man

• Moreover, although a vector may feed on man

throughout its distribution its vectorial capacity may
differ e.g. in some areas of Africa Culex pipiens fatigans transmits
Wuchereria bancrofti while in West Africa, it appears to be a poor vector
Introduction to Arthropods