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Volume 22, Number 10—October 2016
Etymologia

Etymologia: Aedes aegypti

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Aedes aegypti [a-eʹdēz a-jipʹtē]

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Thumbnail of Illustration of Aedes aegypti adult mosquito, vector of yellow fever. CDC/ James M. Stewart

Figure. Illustration of Aedes aegypti adult mosquito, vector of yellow fever. CDC/ James M. Stewart

In 1757, Fredrik Hasselqvist (a protégé of Carl Linnaeus) first described a mosquito collected in Egypt as Culex (Latin for “gnat”) aegypti (Figure), noting as the most salient feature the “glistening white” rings on the legs. Aedes (Greek for “unpleasant”) aegypti is the principal vector of several human diseases, including chikungunya, dengue, yellow fever, and Zika. Yellow fever virus was among the first human viral pathogens to be discovered, and the US Army Yellow Fever Commission’s work showing that Ae. aegypti (also known as the “yellow fever mosquito”) was the principal vector remains one of the cornerstones of medical virology and tropical medicine.

Ae. aegypti arrived in the New World shortly after Europeans, transported on ships, where conditions selected for the anthropophilic Ae. aegypti subsp. aegypti. (Forest-breeding zoophagous Ae. aegypti subsp. formosus are still found in sub-Saharan Africa.) From the New World, Ae. aegypti spread across the Pacific to Asia and Australia.

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References

  1. Christophers  SR. Aedes aegypti (L.): the yellow fever mosquito. London: Cambridge University Press; 1960.
  2. Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary. 32nd ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier Saunders; 2012.
  3. Hasselqvist  F. Iter Palaestinum, eller resa til Heliga Landet, förrättad ifrån år 1749 til 1752. Stockholm; 1757.
  4. Powell  JR, Tabachnick  WJ. History of domestication and spread of Aedes aegypti—a review. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2013;108(Suppl 1):117.DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar

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Cite This Article

DOI: 10.3201/eid2210.et2210

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Page created: September 20, 2016
Page updated: September 20, 2016
Page reviewed: September 20, 2016
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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