Man v mosquito
How humans have tried to wage war against the mosquito for thousands of years - and who's winning the battle.
Mosquitos are a fast-adapting, elusive enemy which humans have been trying to combat for thousands of years. As vectors of dangerous diseases, these tiny insects have killed more people in human history than any other animal. So what impact has the mosquito had on our lives? How have humans tried to halt its spread? And who is winning the battle?
Joining Bridget Kendall to discuss the history of man and the mosquito are Dr. Erica McAlister, Senior Curator of Diptera - Flies - at the Natural History Museum in London; Dr. Timothy Winegard, historian and author of The Mosquito: A Human History of our Deadliest Predator; and Dr. Clifford Mutero of the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Nairobi, Kenya, and author of Mosquito Hunter: Chronicles of an African Insect Scientist.
Image: Health workers tackling the spread of the Zika virus in Brazil, 2016
Credit: Mario Tama / Getty Images
Last on
More episodes
Clip
-
![]()
Would you get into a cage full of mosquitoes?
Duration: 02:50
Broadcasts
- Thu 20 Feb 2020 09:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service
- Fri 21 Feb 2020 00:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service
- Sat 22 Feb 2020 14:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service News Internet
- Sun 23 Feb 2020 14:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Sun 23 Feb 2020 15:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia, UK DAB/Freeview, News Internet, Online & Europe and the Middle East only
- Mon 24 Feb 2020 03:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Online & UK DAB/Freeview only
- Mon 24 Feb 2020 04:06GMTΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia, Americas and the Caribbean, South Asia & East Asia only
Featured in...
![]()
Health, medicine and the body—The Forum
The people and discoveries that changed how we deal with our physical health
Podcast
-
![]()
The Forum
The programme that explains the present by exploring the past
