Vectors
Detailed knowledge of the biology of disease vectors, or medical entomology, is a critically important component in the effective management of many vector-borne diseases.
Vector species may differ in their life cycles, breeding sites, feeding behaviours or host preferences (to name a few). For example, two mosquito species may be important vectors of disease in the same region but may have different feeding and resting behaviours, all of which need to be taken into account in the choice of intervention technique.
Within the diverse range of insect vector species it is arguably the mosquitos, Phlebotomine sandflies, triatomid (reduviid) bugs and tsetse flies which are the most significant vector groups, but there are other arthropod vectors including ticks, fleas and other biting flies.
