Human African Trypanosomiasis, commonly known as sleeping sickness is a highly prevalent parasitic disease in sub-Saharan Africa. The organism responsible for this infectious disease is the Trypanosoma brucei, which claims hold to humans and other animals, as its primary hosts. Since Trypanosoma brucei are parasitic, their environment is their host. The most common carrier is the African native tsetse fly, which is abundant in western and central regions of the continent (Kagbadouno et al. 2012). Cases of sleeping sickness have also been found scattered throughout the eastern and southern portions of Africa, but it is less common in these areas. Tsetse flies typically reside in African forests and woodlands. They make up about a quarter of the continent’s landscape, have a seasonal climate, and have enough precipitation to support evergreen growth (Fayolle et al. 2014). These regions claim home to a diverse number of flora and fauna species, many of which are African natives. There are nearly 20,000 different species of plants, over 8000 of which are trees and …show more content…
A fly sample was captured twice a day at noon and sunset to determine if any of these conditions were relevant. The conditions under observation consisted of human presence, wood smoke from a fire inside or outside, open windows, and simulated cattle or human odor (Vale et al. 2013). The total catches of flies were unaffected by all of these conditions. However, the rise in ambient temperatures had a significant increase in fly abundance. During the hottest months of the year, the amount of fly catches increased from 5%-13% (Vale et al. 2013). Another interesting finding was that 62% of the flies caught were female (Vale et al. 2013), the sex of tsetse flies that less commonly attack humans. Some of the flies captured were old enough to be potential vectors of sleeping sickness (Vale et al.
The sowbugs remained in the damp soil for 34 minutes, and the dry soil for a short 6 minutes (Table 1). The sowbugs remained in the damp soil 85% of the time, as opposed to 15% on the dry soil (Table 1). These results suggest that moisture was a causative agent in environment preference for the sowbugs (Table 1).
Malaria is a mosquito born disease that originated in England. The disease infected the West Coast of the Americas in the 17th century. When the English colonists traveled to the New World, they unintentionally carried with them the Plasmodium parasite. The body reacts to the Plasmodium parasite in an ongoing cycle of fever and fatigue every couple months. The parasite would have rested in the liver among red blood cells for months and suddenly hit the victim with a full blown malarial attack. Malaria does not necessarily kill the victim, but it does drastically weaken him for weeks until his body can fight off the disease. African slaves were previously exposed to malaria. Therefore, many of them were immune to the parasite before being forced into slavery in the New World. Slavery intensified very quickly after the colonists realized that the slaves were not only an almost free work source but were also immune to the disease that tired
The role of questions in Dunn’s article is to persuade the reader into thinking their own role or responsibility in the behavior of flies. The first question he poses is; “Just where do houseflies pick-up these other bacteria, the one they give back to us in vomit spot, feces and footsteps?” This question is central to his main idea. He poses a second question about the discovery made by his friend named Coby, on pig farms, asking; But why would the flies in pig farms tend to have antibiotic resistant bacteria? Yet again dragging the attention to the issue at hand that is that us humans are largely to blame for the dangers that flies poses to our
The population of bats in the United States is facing a serious threat of extinction due to the outbreak of a deadly fungus called Deomyces destructans. The fungus is nicknamed White-Nose Syndrome, after the white fungus that typically appears on the infected bats noses and wings. Other signs and symptoms of White Nose Syndrome are white fungus on the ears and tail as well, bats flying during the day in the middle of winter, bats clustered near the entrance to a hibernacle or cave, and general abnormal behavior for a hibernating bat. Scientifically the fungus has been identified as, Deomyces destructans. The fungus itself causes damage to their connective tissues, muscles, and skin. It also can disrupt many of their physiological processes. Typically during a hibernation period bats will wake up on average every 10 to 20 days. An infected bat on the other hand will wake up every 3 to four days which causes them to burn up their fat stores twice as fast. When they wake up they are both dehydrated and hungry, around 90% of the bats actually die from starvation due to a lack of insects for food in the winter season. WNS is transmitted from bat to bat and that is why any contact between an infected bat from one cave population with a non-infected bat from another population has serious consequences.
Both some of the original flies and some offspring died during the experiment which could have influenced the results. If a vestigial fly died before it could mate that would give the wild type males an advantage in mating and producing a greater number of offspring. This would also be the case if any flies were harmed at any time during the mating period. To try and combat this problem the next time this experiment is done a larger number of male fruit flies could be used or more samples taken to try and reduce extremes in the data. Studying fruit fly mating behavior is very important because their generation length is so short and reproduction happens rapidly.
Richard Conniff uses strong scientific facts in his essay to get his major point across to the audience. One of the major facts he uses stood out as it disproved many a wives tale about the common household fly. Most people think of flies as dirty animals who fed on dead animals and spread disease. Conniff uses a study that found flies tested from dirty areas contained more a lot mor...
“Plague Prevention and Control.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Department of Health and Human Services. 30 March, 2005. 26 July, 2006. .
The titmouse is a small songbird that searches acrobatically for insects among foliage and branches. The tufted titmouse, also known by their scientific name of baeolophus bicolor, is a widespread species from North America. Because the species is so widespread, it can be assumed that the species is not limited by the biotic and abiotic factors that other species are limited by. The titmouse eats only insects in the summer, including caterpillars, beetles, ants, wasps, stink bugs, and treehoppers; they also eat seeds, nut, and berries. However, every population, or a group of individuals of a single species living in the same general areas, is limited by a carrying capacity, or the maximum population size that a particular environment can sustain. At one point, the biotic or abiotic factors will limit the dispersion and dispersal of the
There are a number of symptoms associated with quick detection of malaria they are, being irritable, troubled sleep, poor appetite and drowsiness. Soon after people infected usua...
Malaria is a common disease in a hot tropical area and it affects about 300 million people worldwide. There are four types of parasites that cause malaria in humans. Among the types of species Plasmodium falciparum is most common in Africa region and it can cause deadly form of disease. The Plasmodium vivax which is the second type of species is not life-threatening form of malaria. Plasmodium ovale also causes malaria. The system malaria affect most is the immune system. Malaria undergoes a complex life cycle, which involves two separate asexual reproductive stages in the vertebrate host which include humans and sexual reproduction as well as multiplication in the insect vector of all human.
Just like the Native American’s in the new world, disease killed more people than did bullets. 4“Europeans and the Afro-Arab slave traders brought to the interior of the Congo many disease previously not known there.” The diseases that they brought to the Congo were diseases like, small pox, malaria was already known, sleeping sickness and different kinds of infections that killed millions of slaves or locals. 4“The most notorious killers were smallpox and sleeping sickness….” Most deaths were result of those two diseases, when they arrived, “the local people had no time to build up immunities.” The invaders would spread the disease throughout the interior of the village and by the time they left, the village was filled with dead bodies. The Africans called small pox, either 6“the sickness from above” or 6“the sickness from heaven”, because they didn’t know where it came from. The sleeping sickness killed hundreds of thousands of people and it spread like wildfire. “Sleeping sickness also spread lethally up the rivers. Half a million Congolese were estimated to have died of it in 1901 alone. The disease is caused by a parasite spread by the bite of the pink-striped tsetse fly, about the size of a horsefly… Once contracted by humans, sleeping sickness becomes highly
Malaria is a deadly disease that is transmitted to humans via bites from infected female mosquitos carrying malaria parasites. People who develop the disease often become “very sick with high fever, shaking chills, and flu-like symptoms” (CDC). According to National Geographic, "malaria now affects more people than ever before. It's endemic to 106 nations, threatening half the world's population…This year malaria will strike up to a half billion people. At least a million will die, most of them under age five, the vast majority living in Africa,” (National Geographic). The high concentration of malaria-afflicted citizens in Africa can be attributed to the conducive climate for mosquitos, the sheer number of mosquitos, and most importantly, the inability for many countries to sustain enough anti-malarial resources, medical care, and preventative measu...
Forensic entomology is the study of insects and arthropods and their relation to a criminal investigation. Forensic entomology can determine the postmortem interval (PMI) or how long since the descendants’ death, whether the body has been moved since expiring, and what injuries may have been sustained (Ryan, 2011). When decomposition begins, insects establish a colony to lay eggs on the remains; these eggs will hatch into larvae that will eat the human organs and tissues. Forensic entomologists can determine the specific insects present in the body and estimate how long a body has been left exposed by examining the stage of development of the fly larvae; however, these findings are not always plausible. The fly larvae look and act different at each stage of development. The time required for stage development is not only affected by environmental influences such as geographical location, climate, and weather conditions, but also by type of insect. The forensic entomologist must consider these conditions when estimating the postmortem interval. Knowledge of insects, their life cycles, and their habits make entomological evidence a priceless tool for an investigation. Forensic entomology has proved its significance in a number of cases; though circumstances such as weather, temperature, and time of year clearly affect the development of insect infestation, and the expert must keep these in the forefront of his/her mind (Innes, 2000).
Tourists enjoy visiting the mountains of Rwanda to admire the gorillas and encourage their safety; however, humans help put mountain gorillas at risk. In 1999, a team of researchers with the Journal of Parasitology noted roundworm parasites in the feces of mountain gorillas (Ferber, 2000). These parasites normally affect only humans through contaminated water. Early, in 1988, blood and tissue samples of several mountain gorillas indicated measles infection (Ferber, 2000).
Most of the species from habitat one are Diptera. There was a total of thirteen Diptera’s in habitat one. Cup one had the least amount of individual species with four. Habitat two had more individual species than habitat one. There was a total of seventy-nine species from habitat two. Like in habitat one most of of the arthropods from habitat two were Diptera. The was a total of eighteen Diptera’s in habitat two. Cup six had most of the Diptera’s with thirteen. Orthoptera was second in the number of individuals with sixteen. Orthoporea’s are crickets and