What is a Dengue Mosquito?

The dengue mosquito looks like any other mosquitoes. That is why it is hard to identify them unless you use a microscope. So it is important to know the characteristics of a dengue mosquito.
The Signs

• It likes to live indoors and bite people indoors
• It is hard to catch; it moves very quickly, darting back and forth
• It likes to hide under furniture and bite people around the feet and ankles
• Its bite is often relatively painless, so people may not notice they are being bitten or they may think they are being bitten by sandflies/biting midges.

Where they live?

Adult mosquito likes to stay in dark areas inside and under houses and buildings. Their favorite resting spots are under beds, tables and chairs, wardrobes and closets, piles of dirty laundry and shoes, inside open containers, dark and quiet rooms, and even on dark objects such as clothing or furniture. They prefer to bite during daytime. It is very careful when biting, flying away so quickly at the slightest disturbance. The best way to kill this mosquito is to apply a residual insecticide spray to the areas where they stay.

The Breeding Sites
The dengue mosquito frequents backyards in search of containers holding water inside and outside the home, such as:

• cans
• buckets
• jars
• vases
• pot plant dishes
• birdbaths
• boats
• tyres – discarded with no rims
• roof gutters blocked by leaves
• striking containers (used to strike plants) 
• tarpaulins and black plastic.

It can also breed in natural containers like:

• bromeliads
• fallen palm fronds.

In drier conditions it also breeds in water in subterranean sites such as:

• wells
• telecommunication pits
• sump pits
• gully traps.

The dengue mosquito does not fly very far, so if you get rid of mosquito breeding sites around your home, you will significantly reduce your risk of being bitten by dengue mosquitoes.

How do dengue mosquitoes transmit dengue?

Only female mosquito can be infected with dengue after biting an infected human who is viraemic with dengue. Viraemic means when there are enough virus particles in the person’s blood to infect a mosquito. So in 8-10 days the infected mosquito is able to transmit the virus to other people.  Thus the cycle of transmission takes only 14 days. An infected person can transmit dengue to mosquitoes at home, at work or anywhere they visit