It’s not just idle curiosity that’s got scientists hunting down all the bloody details of a mosquito bite. Bites from these bugs are more dangerous to humans than those of any other animal; mosquitoes kill hundreds of thousands of people each year worldwide, and sicken millions more.
Male mosquitoes don’t bite people, but when the females drink our blood to grow their eggs, they can leave behind viruses and parasites that cause diseases like West Nile, malaria, dengue and Zika.
Part of what makes mosquitoes so good at getting humans sick, researchers are now learning, is the effectiveness of that bite. The mosquito’s mouth, also called a proboscis, isn’t just one tiny spear. It’s a sophisticated system of six thin, needlelike mouthparts that scientists call stylets, each of which pierces the skin, finds blood vessels and makes it easy for mosquitoes to suck blood.
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