Mosquitoes as such as are the deadly organisms, which are responsible for transmission of a number of infections. It is estimated that mosquito-related disease has resulted in the death of 500,000 people each year. These blood-sucking insects directly transmit infection in the bloodstream and also have the capacity to multiply faster. Only female mosquitoes bite and rely on vertebrate blood whereas male mosquito feeds on flower nectars.
Can Too Many Mosquito Bites Kill You?
When the mosquito bites, it releases anticoagulants in the skin to allow easy flow of blood. A successful whole blood meal bite will take 0.01 to 0.001 milliliters of blood. In order for humans to die of blood loss, the mosquitoes have to bite around 200,000 times that means more than 500 bites on every square inch of the skin. Mosquito bites are usually not life-threatening due to blood loss, but it does give unpleasant itch and swelling.
A female mosquito proboscis (mouth is designed to allow piercing of skin in search of a blood vessel for a good meal). The piercing of skin can produce itching and swelling in the area. The proboscis lubricates itself with saliva and starts sucking blood. The saliva also contains anticoagulants which allow free flow of blood while the mosquito feeds.
The skin of human and animals are composed of small blood capillaries. The structure of skin has different types of cells not only blood vessels, so it may happen that the mosquito may not be able to find blood vessel in a single attempt. If the mosquito is successful in the first attempt, then she will suck blood and will not return back soon. Mosquito continues attacks until they find a blood vessel. There is no defined number of times the mosquito bites to get successful blood capillary. Each time the mosquito pierces the skin (bites), there will be itching and swelling.
The mosquito utilizes its blood meal to develop eggs. The higher the blood a mosquito sucks the higher the number of eggs in a batch if the mosquito sucks little or no blood then also mosquito has the chance of laying a small batch of eggs. The amount of blood and the eggs in a batch produced depends upon the mosquito species. A single full blood meal may be sufficient for a few species of mosquito to provide proteins for the developing eggs. Blood is rich in proteins and other nutrients which play an important role in the production and development of mosquito eggs. Once the mosquitoes are full they will remove proboscis from the skin and fly-off. Few species of mosquito require more than one full blood meal for their developing eggs. The mosquito can bite a number of times. They can suck blood up to 3 times their actual body weight.
The question comes how many times do a mosquito bite. Mostly after a full blood meal, the mosquito has enough nutrients for production and development of the eggs. The mosquito waits for 2-3 days. Once she is done with the egg-laying process, she is ready to bite again. Few people may wonder that mosquito will die after biting you, but it is not correct mosquito do not die, unlike bees.
The mosquito consumes 0.01 to 0.001 milliliters of blood in each bite. Few bites will not produce any harmful effects and do not produce any life-threatening condition. A human body is composed of about 5 liters of blood. Small amount f blood loss does not affect the human body. Losing a significant amount of blood say 2 liters can be life-threatening. It will take approx. 200,000 full blood meal mosquito’s bites to lose 2L blood. Under normal circumstances, it will be difficult to get so many bites. Measures should be taken to prevent breeding of mosquitoes and hence bites. They can be directly responsible for death due to epidemic infections.
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