Medical Entomology

Dr. Rafiei
​ hD assistant professor of medical parasitology
P
• Entomology = Entomo (insect) + logy

• a highly successful group of animals

• everywhere
• and have adapted to nearly every imaginable
source of food, including vertebrate blood.

• Ectoparasites
Phylum: Arthropoda = Arthros ( joint) + Podos (foot)
Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Phthiraptera
Family: Pediculidae
Genus: Pediculus
Species: P. humanus
• a segmental body plan
• chitinous exoskeletal plates
• a ventral chain of segmental ganglia,
• an open dorsal circulatory system,
• a body cavity that is a hemocoel.
• ventilate by means of a tracheal system
• have well-developed appendicular
mouthparts.
 THE INSECTS (HEXAPODA)
• About 1 million species.
• small size,
• short generation time,
• rather sophisticated nervous system
• ability to fly,
• different development strategies.
THE INSECTS (HEXAPODA)
 three main body regions (head, thorax, abdomen),
 three pairs of legs (restricted to the thorax),
 one pair of antennae
 have wings, but there are groups of primitively wingless insects and many
groups that have secondarily lost wings.
 An insect’s life-cycle:
Hemimetabolous, or incomplete
metamorphosis. Insect young are
usually similar to the adult. Wings
appear as buds on the nymphs or
early instars.

Holometabolus, or complete
metamorphosis. These insects
have a different form in their
immature and adult stages, have
different behaviours and live in
different habitats. The immature
form is called larvae and remains
similar in form but increases in
size. They usually have chewing
mouthparts even if the adult form
mouth parts suck. At the last larval
instar phase the insect forms into a
pupa, it doesn’t feed and is
inactive, and here wing
development is initiated, and the
adult emerges
 Sucking lice (Anoplura)

‫مص القمل‬
Three types of blood-sucking lice occur on humans:

1. the body louse (Pediculus humanus) 13

2. the head louse (Pediculus capitis)
3. the pubic or crab louse (Pthirus pubis).
• flattened dorsoventrally
• Males measure about 2–3mm and females about 3–4mm.
• The head has a pair of small black eyes
• a pair of short five-segmented antennae.
• In males the tip of the abdomen is rounded,
• whereas in females it is bifurcated and used to grip fibres of clothing during
egg-laying.
Pediculus humanus male
18
• The egg, commonly called a nit is oval, white, about
1mm long,
• has a distinct operculum (cap) containing numerous
small perforations which give the egg the appearance
of a minuscule pepper pot.
• Intake of air through these holes not only supplies the
tissues of the developing embryo with oxygen but aids
hatching.
Lice have a hemimetabolous life cycle. The louse hatching from the egg is termed a
nymph and resembles a small adult.

Body lice are spread by close contact

 Life cycle
• Both sexes take blood-meals, and feeding occurs at
any time during the day or night.
• Both adults and immature stages live permanently on
humans, clinging mainly to fibres of their clothing and
usually only to body hairs during feeding.
• Lice are very sensitive to changes in temperature.
Medical importance for body louse
(Pediculus humanus)
• Pediculosis: Presence of body, head or pubic lice on a person
• The skin of people may become pigmented and tough, a
condition known as vagabond’s disease
• Louse-borne epidemic typhus: Rickettsia prowazekii, are
passed out in the faeces of the louse, and people become
infected when these are rubbed or scratched, or come into
contact with delicate mucous membranes such as the
conjunctiva.
• Infection can also be caused by inhalation of the very fine
powdered dry faeces. Humans, therefore, become infected
with typhus either by the faeces of the louse or by crushing it,
not by its bite.
• recrudescence of typhus is termed Brill–Zinsser disease.
Medical importance for body louse
(Pediculus humanus)

• Louse-borne epidemic relapsing fever: Borrelia

recurrentis is ingested with the louse’s blood-meal. the
louse being crushed and faeces of infected lice can
contain live B. recurrentis.

• Trench fever: is caused by Bartonella Quintana.

conveyed to humans either by crushing the louse or by its
faeces coming into contact with skin abrasions or mucous
membranes or arise from inhalation of the dust-like faeces.
 Control
• Lice are killed with insecticidal dusts, such as
• carbaryl,
• propoxur,
• malathion
• Permethrin (the best pyrethroid for control)
 The head louse (Pediculus capitis)
• Medical importance:
• head lice are a serious public health problem
• the USA and the UK almost 50% of pupils have head
lice

• Control:
• A plastic louse comb
• the head can be shaved!-
• pyrethroids such as phenothrin or permethrin, or
organophosphates such as malathion.
 The pubic louse (Pthirus pubis)

‫قملة العانة‬

is smaller (1.3–2mm) than Pediculus species, it almost round.

the middle and hind-legs are much thicker than the front legs
have massive & very large claws,
more sluggish movements, has resulted in the pubic louse being
aptly called the crab louse.
 Medical importance
• Infestation with crab lice is usually through sexual
intercourse
• Severe allergic reactions (pruritus) can develop in
response to their bites, due to the injection of
saliva and the deposition of faeces around the
feeding sites.

• Control:
• shaving pubic hairs from the body,
• application of insecticidal lotions.
 Fleas (Siphonaptera)

‫برغوث‬
• oval in shape and relatively small (1–6 mm);
• compressed laterally
• vary from light to dark brown
• Wings are absent,
• there are three pairs of powerful legs, with the hind legs specialized for
31
jumping.
• The head is approximately triangular, bears a pair of conspicuous eyes
(a few species are eyeless)
Comb: a row of coarse, well-developed toothlike spines
1. combless fleas.
2. In some genera fleas have both combs,
3. in other species the pronotal comb is present and the genal comb absent
the mesopleuron is located above the middle pair of legs. In several genera,
including Xenopsylla, this sternite is clearly divided into two parts by a thick
vertical rod-like structure called the meral rod, pleural rod, mesopleural
suture or just rod.
In female fleas the tip of the abdomen is more rounded
than in males.
Internally in about the sixth to eighth abdominal segments
are one or two distinct brownish spermathecae
 male fleas

both take blood-meals and can be vectors

feed on humans or animals
A minute legless larva emerges from the egg, Larvae feed on almost any organic
debris, At the end of the larval period the larva spins a whitish cocoon from silk
produced by its salivary glands.
• cat and dog fleas (Ctenocephalides felis and C.
canis) will readily feed on humans
• Human fleas (Pulex irritans) often feed on dogs
and pigs
• rat fleas (Xenopsylla species) will attack people in
the absence of rats
 Medical importance
• Flea nuisance:
• their troublesome bites, by cat flea on the ankles and
legs
• hypersensitive to flea bites can suffer from
dermatitis, and inhalation of flea faeces can cause
allergies
 Medical importance
• Plague
• There are three main types of plague:
• bubonic, septicemic and pneumonic,
• all caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis.
• The transmission cycle of plague between wild rodents,
is termed sylvatic, campestral, rural or enzootic plague.
• An important form of plague is urban plague. It is
maintained in the rat population by fleas such as
Xenopsylla cheopis. On their death infected fleas leave
the rats and feed on humans.
• Murine typhus or endemic typhus or Mexican typhus
• is caused by the bacterium Rickettsia typhi
• Rickettsiae of murine typhus can pass to the flea’s
ovaries and subsequently to the eggs, larvae and
adults, that is transovarial transmission.
• Cestodes
• Dipylidium caninum is the commonest tapeworm of
dogs and cats, and it occasionally occurs in children. It
can be transmitted by fleas (C. felis, C. canis and P.
irritans) to both pets and humans
• Hymenolepis diminuta and H. nana
Control of fleas
• Repellents such as DEET
 Bedbugs
(Cimicidae)

• oval, wingless insects

• flattened dorsoventrally,
• They are about 5–7mm long
• The prothorax is much
larger than the meso- and
metathorax
• has distinct wing-like
expansions.

‫بق الفراش‬
44
males the tip of the abdomen is slightly more pointed than in females, while
closer examination shows a small well-developed curved penis
In females there is a small incision ventrally on the left side of the apparent
fourth abdominal segment, organ of Berlese or organ of Ribaga, which collects
and stores sperm
female
 Life cycle
• Unlike lice, bedbugs do not remain on people but stay
only to take blood-meals
• Bedbugs are usually spread to new houses by being
introduced with furniture and bedding, or more rarely
with clothing and hand baggage.
• Buying secondhand furniture can result in the
introduction of bedbugs into houses.
Newly hatched bedbugs
(nymphs) are very pale yellow
and resemble adults, but are
much smaller
The life cycle is hemimetabolous

49
Both sexes of bedbug take blood-meals
 Medical importance
• not considered as vectors.
• Some people show little or no reaction to their bites,
but others may suffer severe reactions and have
sleepless nights.
• Repeated feedings of large numbers of bedbugs can
cause iron deficiency in infants and some elderly
people.
 Control
• Insect repellents and insecticide-impregnated bed-
nets can give considerable personal protection against
bedbugs.
• Floors and walls of infested houses, together with as
much furniture as possible, should be sprayed with the
carbamate bendiocarb, organophosphates such as
malathion, a range of pyrethroids including
cypermethrin and also insect growth regulators (IGRs)
Triatomine bugs,
kissing bugs,
assassin bugs,
or vampire bugs
(Triatominae)
All medically important species are
Central and South America.

‫البق التراتومين‬
‫البق قاتل‬
• vary from 5 to 45 mm in length, but most are 20–30
mm long.
• The meso-and metathorax are hidden dorsally by
the folded fore-wings, called hemelytra.
• hemimetabolous.
• Small pale nymphs, which resemble adults but lack wings
• Nymphs and adults of both sexes feed at night on their hosts
• Many bugs defecate during or soon after feeding, and this behaviour is very
important in the transmission of Chagas disease
 Medical importance
• Chagas disease
• Trypanosoma cruzi, as South American
trypanosomiasis.
• Transmission is not by the bite of the insect, only
through its faeces.
• Chagas disease is a zoonosis so have reservoir hosts.
• The triatomine bug itself can also be a reservoir of
infection
 Medical importance
• Trypanosoma rangeli
• is non-pathogenic in humans. It is transmitted by
triatomines, especially by Rhodnius prolixus.
• People are mainly infected by the bug’s bite and only
rarely by its faeces.
 Control
• by spraying the interior surfaces of walls and
roofs/ceilings of houses, out-houses with residual
insecticides.
• Although fenitrothion (organophosphate) is
sometimes used, pyrethroids are the most commonly
sprayed insecticides, particularly deltamethrin,
cyfluthrin
 Introduction to
mosquitoes

Anophelinae Culicinae
(anophelines) (culicines)

Anopheles Culex
 possess only one pair of wings
 The hind-wings are represented by a
pair of small, knob-like halteres.
 slender and small insects, about 3–6
mm in length
In females the antennae have short hairs
in males, the antennae have many long hairs
mate shortly after emergence from the pupa.
Sperm from a male enter the spermotheca of a female, and this usually serves to
fertilize all eggs laid during her lifetime
a female mosquito must bite a host and take a blood-meal to
obtain the necessary nutrients for the development of her eggs.
This process of blood-feeding and egg-laying is repeated several
times throughout the female’s life and is referred to as the
gonotrophic cycle.
 Anophele larva

Culicine larva

They hang upside down at an angle from the water surface when they are getting air
 Pupal biology
• aquatic and comma-shaped.
• The head and thorax are combined to form the
cephalothorax, which dorsally has a pair of respiratory
trumpets
 adults
Culicine adults

Adult Anopheles

• Adult Anopheles usually rest with their bodies at an

angle to the surface, that is with the proboscis and
abdomen in a straight line, or ‘head down bottom up
• Culicine adults rest with the thorax and abdomen
more or less parallel to the surface
 Adult biology and behaviour
• Species that usually feed on humans are said to be
anthropophagic
• those feeding mainly on other animals are called
zoophagic.
• Mosquitoes that feed on birds are sometimes called
ornithophagic
• Some species feed at any time of the day or night;
others are mainly diurnal or nocturnal in their biting
habits.
• A few species of mosquitoes frequently enter
houses to feed and are said to be endophagic
• those that bite their hosts outside houses are
called exophagic.
• Some species rest inside houses during blood
digestion and development of the eggs are called
endophilic.
• In contrast, mosquitoes that rest outdoors are
termed exophilic.
 Mosquito control
• Biological control or naturalistic control:
1. Larvivorous fish (Gambusia , warm-water fish)
2. Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus sphaericus is
killing mosquito larvae
• genetic control:
1. Large numbers of sterile males released into field
2. Mosquito is introducing into field that are incapable
of transmitting diseases.
• Physical control or environmental control
• Chemical control like Insecticides: DDT and other
organochlorine
• Insect growth regulators (IGRs)
• Integrated control: means combining control like
biological and insecticidal methods
• Personal protection: An effective repellent is DEET
Medical importance of the genus Anopheles
• Malaria:
• The most important malarial parasites are
Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae and P.
ovale, the mosquito the definitive host, and
humans the intermediate host.
 Important malaria vectors in Iran
1. A.stephensi
2. A.dttali
3. A.fluviatilis
4. A. Culicifacies
5. A.maculipenis
6. A.sacharovi
7. A.superpictus
 Filariasis

• Certain Anopheles species transmit filarial worms of

Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi and Brugia
timori, all of which cause filariasis in humans.
Arboviruses

• The word
arbovirus is
derived
from the
term
‘arthropod-
borne
virus’.
• Produce
viraemia
Medical importance of Culicine mosquitoes
1) Biting nuisance
2) Arboviruses
 Yellow fever (Flavivirus)
 Dengue (Flavivirus)
 West Nile virus (WNV) (Flavivirus)
 Japanese encephalitis (JE) (Flavivirus)
3) Filariasis: Both bancroftian and brugian filariasis
Phlebotomine sand flies
(Phlebotominae)
 Adult flies are often called
sand flies because of their
colour.

Both sexes feed on plant

juices and sugary
secretions, but females in
addition suck blood from a
variety of vertebrates
• subfamily Phlebotominae
• Three genera :
I. Phlebotomus in the Old World
II. Lutzomyia in the New World
III. Sergentomyia
 Adults of Phlebotomus and Lutzomyia are difficult to
distinguish
 Adults are weak fliers and usually disperse 100m or
less from their larval habitats
• less than 5mm long
• hairy appearance,
• large black eyes
• long and stilt-like legs
• the wings are held at an angle of about 40 degrees
over the body when the fly is at rest or blood-feeding
In males it terminates in a prominent pair of genital claspers
female more or less rounded at the tip
only females bite
 Medical importance
I. Annoyance (their bites may result in severe and
almost intolerable irritations, a condition known in the
Middle East as harara.)
II. Leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania parasites
III. Bartonellosis, Oroya fever or Carrión’s disease
(caused by the bacterium Bartonella bacilliformis)
IV. Sand fly fevers, three-day fever or Phlebotomus
fevers (Sand flies transmit the seven viral serotypes
responsible for sand fly fevers
Thanks for
your
attention!