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 Mosquitoes zanzare are small flying insects (similar to that of the Scottish Midge) and are found around the world and are extremely annoying (especially when there is one flying around your room at night). There are approximately over 3000 species. They have a pair of scaled wings, a pair of halteres, a slender body, and six long legs. It is the female mosquito that bites, sucking blood from humans and other animals spreading infectious diseases such as; malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever and chikungunya (a virus spread by the Tiger mosquito 'Aedes albopictus', which was reported for the first time in north-eastern region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy in 2007 ).
- Chikungunya - begins with a fever that lasts a few days but persistent headaches and chronic joint pains and pronounced lethargy can last for weeks or months.
- Dengue - caused by another virus but with similar symptoms to chikungunya – fever followed by severe pain in the joints, headaches and vomiting.
- Yellow fever - sudden fever and headaches but can develop into chills, bleeding, rapid heartbeat, headache, back pains as well as "coffee ground" vomit that contains blood.
Luckily, around the Lake Como region you shouldn't suffer too badly as every year leading up to 'mosquito season' the surrouding area is sprayed in order to keep mosquitoes at bay. Thankfully I have not yet suffered another bite like the one I got in Florence a couple of years ago from a tiger mosquito where my arm was so swollen and painful I could not bend it for days!
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Bugs & Reptiles 