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Stalking the Common Mosquito -- and a Deadly Virus
July 13, 2001-- Small and drab, North American mosquitoes used to be viewed as annoying but harmless -- until two years ago, when mosquitoes in New York fatally infected nine people, thousands of birds and several horses with the West Nile virus.
The unexpected appearance of the mosquito-borne disease changed urban life in the Northeast. Now people wonder whether the tiny insect buzzing in their ear has salivary glands loaded with the deadly virus.
The West Nile virus is transmitted by the common house mosquito, Culex pipiens, that lives mainly in urban and suburban areas. They get the virus by feeding on infected birds; and they spread it when they attack their human subjects, using tiny bundles of specialized stylets that drill a hole, saw it wider and suck blood almost all at once.
Andrew Spielman -- a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, and author of Mosquito: A Natural History of Our Most Persistent and Deadly Foe -- has traveled the world tracking the West Nile-bearing mosquitoes.
 On Morning Edition, NPR's John Nielsen follows Spielman and a colleague through the neighborhoods around Boston, in search of the breeding ground of these potentially deadly pests.
From the Harvard School of Public Health Web site, learn
facts about mosquitoes, and what you can do to avoid mosquito-borne viruses.
Visit the Centers for Disease Control Web site on the West Nile virus.
Listen to Andrew Spielman talk with Fresh Air host Terry Gross about Mosquito: A Natural History of Our Most Persistent And Deadly Foe, his book with Michael DíAntonio.
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