Medical Entomology

Medical Entomology is the study of insects and their relationship to humans, the environment, and other organisms. Entomologists make great contributions to such diverse fields as agriculture, chemistry, biology, human/animal health, molecular science, criminology, and forensics. The study of insects serves as the basis for developments in biological and chemical pest control, food and fiber production and storage, pharmaceuticals epidemiology, biological diversity, and a variety of other fields of science. Entomology is the study of insects, including related arthropods. Insects are involved with virtually every part of our lives; they are pests that eat our food, our houses, our animals, and are vectors that spread sickness and disease. But insects aren’t all bad! Many insects are beneficial pollinators, decomposers of dead materials, and useful in the biocontrol of unwanted pests. Vector-borne diseases are infections transmitted by the bite of infected arthropod species, such as mosquitoes, ticks, triatomine bugs, sandflies, and blackflies. Arthropod vectors are cold-blooded (ectothermic) and thus especially sensitive to climatic factors. Weather influences survival and reproduction rates of vectors, in turn influencing habitat suitability, distribution and abundance; intensity and temporal pattern of vector activity (particularly biting rates) throughout the year; and rates of development, survival and reproduction of pathogens within vectors. Arthropods are insects, spiders, scorpions, centipedes, and other organisms with their skeletons on the outside and no backbone. Venomous arthropods deliver venom by stinging or biting. Entomology is now a well-established degree and with the scope of the environmental sciences continuing to expand, the evidence that we can acquire from it is expected to continue to have the broadest possible appeal. Though classed as a subsection of zoology, it is a deep enough subject to require specific undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications. This fascinating book has been carefully organised to meet the long felt of increasingly large number of those who dealt with different aspects of Entomology. It provides a balanced and integrated treatment of the entire field of Entomology.