What to Know About Arizona’s Deadly “Super Bug”

Arizona is home to the deadliest animal on earth. It stalks its prey constantly, draws blood without a second thought, and spreads disease like it's its main function.

This is, of course, the deadly mosquito. Seen as just a nuisance 90% of the time, this insect accounts for over 700,000 deaths globally per year.

Arizona may be home to a breed that's unstoppable.

Super Mosquitos

Mosquitos have been a thorn in humanity's side since the day we evolved to walk on land. Luckily, over the past century we've learned how to contain them with powerful chemical agents. This insecticide has been incredibly useful for crops, communities, and hospitals.

Unfortunately, the Arizona State University School of Life Sciences found a problem, and one that holds massive consequences: they're evolving. It was discovered that Aedes Aegypti, a type of mosquito found primarily in Maricopa County, was immune to insecticide.

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Read More: The “New Fauci Virus” is Spreading Across Arizona

What Does This Mean?

The school found that, in a lab setting, about 85% of the test population survived contact with the poison. This means that the widespread use of insecticide around Maricopa county is useless, and larger populations of these blood-sucking varmints will begin to reproduce and swarm the Phoenix area.

Luckily, it seems that lab tests don't always carry over to the real world. Many of the test subjects were young and healthy, which is not always the case in the wild. Because of this, it's possible it was just these lab raised bugs that grew resistant.

ASU is working around the clock to unravel the mysteries of mosquito evolution and their growing resistance to insecticide.

[NBC12]