[Durgical](https://durgical.com/en/) › [DurgiPedia](https://durgical.com/en/durgipedia/) › [Microbiology](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/) › [Arthropod vectors](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/groups/arthropod-vectors/) › Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus

[Microbiology](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/) · [Arthropod vectors](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/groups/arthropod-vectors/)

# Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus

- Parasite
- Exam priority: medium

Striped-legged mosquitoes that bite by day and breed in clean water in containers. They spread dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever.

Updated 2026-11-01

Also called: yellow fever mosquito, Asian tiger mosquito (Ae. albopictus)

## Key points

- Bites by day and breeds in clean stored water: control means removing breeding sites.
- One vector for four viruses: dengue, Zika, chikungunya and urban yellow fever.
- Eggs resist drying for months; egg to adult in about a week.
- Sylvatic yellow fever: Haemagogus and Sabethes, not Aedes.
- Ae. albopictus is spreading in Colombia, mostly in the Andean region.

## At a glance

**Shape**
Dark mosquito with white leg bands; Ae. aegypti with a white lyre pattern on the thorax, Ae. albopictus with a single central white stripe

**Family**
Culicidae, subfamily Culicinae

**Type**
Blood-feeding dipteran insect (vector)

**Size**
Adult a few millimetres long

## Morphology

- Black adult with white scales on legs and thorax; females have a piercing proboscis.
- Larvae with a breathing siphon that hang at an angle from the water surface.
- Eggs glued to the container wall just above the waterline.

## Transmission

- The female is infected by biting a viraemic person and, after about 8 to 12 days of extrinsic incubation, passes the virus in saliva for the rest of her life.
- It bites mainly by day, in and around homes; it may bite several people during one blood meal.
- It can pass the virus to its eggs (transovarial transmission), which helps keep it going between outbreaks.

**Reservoir:** Humans (urban cycle of dengue, Zika and chikungunya); Non-human primates in the sylvatic cycle of yellow fever

**Vector:** Ae. aegypti is the main urban vector; Ae. albopictus is secondary and lives more in peri-urban and rural areas. Sylvatic yellow fever is carried by Haemagogus and Sabethes.

### Isolation precautions

What the care team adds to standard precautions.

- Standard

## Life cycle

- The female lays eggs on the walls of water-holding containers, above the waterline.
- Eggs survive drying for months and hatch when rain or refilling covers them.
- Larvae (wigglers) live in the water and moult four times.
- The pupa lives in water without feeding, and the adult emerges from it.
- Egg to adult takes about 7 to 10 days; the female then seeks blood for her next batch.
- It flies little: it usually stays within a few blocks of where it emerged.

## Virulence factors

- Highly anthropophilic: it prefers to bite people and lives indoors (Ae. aegypti).
- Multiple interrupted bites in one meal multiply infections.
- Drought-resistant eggs allow repopulation after the dry season.
- Growing insecticide resistance in many populations.

## Diseases it causes

- Dengue (dengue virus, four serotypes) [Dengue →](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/dengue/)
- Zika [Zika virus infection →](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/zika-virus-infection/)
- Chikungunya [Chikungunya →](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/chikungunya/)
- Urban yellow fever [Yellow fever →](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/yellow-fever/)

## Diagnosis

- Entomological identification of larvae, pupae and adults by public health laboratories.
- Aedes indices (house, container and Breteau) and pupal indices to measure transmission risk.
- Larval traps and ovitraps to detect Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus in new municipalities.

## Treatment

Does not apply to the insect. Control uses larvicides in stored water and adulticides (pyrethroids or organophosphates) during outbreaks, with insecticide-resistance monitoring.

Drug class only; doses and regimens are set by the clinician from the current guideline.

## Prevention

- Removing breeding sites: cover, empty and scrub water containers every week, especially low tanks and washbasins.
- Collecting tyres, bottles and other objects that hold rainwater.
- Bed nets, window screens, long clothes and repellents (DEET, picaridin, IR3535), also during the day.
- Focal spraying during outbreaks and community clean-up campaigns.
- Yellow fever vaccine in the PAI schedule for people living in or travelling to risk areas.

## In Colombia

According to the 2021 INS entomology report, Ae. aegypti was present in 793 of 1,103 municipalities (about 72%), always below 2,200 m above sea level; Ae. albopictus had been recorded in 276 municipalities, rising year on year, mostly in the Andean region. Low water-storage tanks are key breeding sites in departments such as Sucre and Boyacá. Surveillance is done by departmental public health laboratories with the INS Entomology Group, within the vector-borne disease (ETV) programmes.

## Memory aid

Aedes works the day shift and lives in the water tank: still, clean water in the house is its office.

## Test yourself

Think of the answer, then tap the question to see it.

## When does Aedes aegypti mainly bite?

By day, in and around homes; that is why a night-time bed net is not enough and repellent and long clothes are also used by day.

## Where does Aedes aegypti lay its eggs?

On the walls of containers with fairly clean water, just above the waterline: tanks, tyres, vases, bottles.

## What is the Breteau index?

The number of containers with Aedes larvae per hundred houses inspected; it is used to estimate transmission risk.

## Which mosquitoes carry sylvatic yellow fever in Colombia?

Mosquitoes of the genera Haemagogus and Sabethes; Aedes aegypti takes part in the urban cycle.

[Add to my cards (4)](https://durgical.app/estudiar/?add=/en/microbiology/aedes-aegypti-and-aedes-albopictus/)

## Related

- [Dengue virus](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/dengue-virus/)
- [Zika virus](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/zika-virus/)
- [Chikungunya virus](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/chikungunya-virus/)
- [Yellow fever virus](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/yellow-fever-virus/)
- [Anopheles](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/anopheles/)

## Related conditions

- [Dengue](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/dengue/)
- [Zika virus infection](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/zika-virus-infection/)
- [Chikungunya](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/chikungunya/)
- [Yellow fever](https://durgical.com/en/conditions/yellow-fever/)

## What the colours mean

**Gram-positive**
Thick peptidoglycan wall: stains purple.

**Gram-negative**
Thin wall with an outer membrane: stains pink.

**Acid-fast**
Lipid-rich wall (mycobacteria): Ziehl–Neelsen stain.

[← Back to the group: Arthropod vectors](https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/groups/arthropod-vectors/)

Educational content on microorganisms; not a treatment guide and no substitute for a health professional's advice. No doses are given.

Sources: [Life Cycle of Aedes Mosquitoes | Mosquitoes | CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/mosquitoes/about/life-cycle-of-aedes-mosquitoes.html) (CDC, 2024); [Dengue](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dengue-and-severe-dengue) (WHO, 2025); [Informe técnico entomológico de arbovirosis, Colombia 2021](https://www.ins.gov.co/BibliotecaDigital/informe-tecnico-entomologico-de-arbovirosis-colombia-2021.pdf) (Instituto Nacional de Salud (INS), 2021).

## **Spotted a mistake?** We are always improving for the community. Tell us what is wrong and our team will review it. Report a mistake

Representative model, for educational purposes only.

---
Source: https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/aedes-aegypti-and-aedes-albopictus/
License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Cite as: DurgiPedia (durgical.com), https://durgical.com/en/microbiology/aedes-aegypti-and-aedes-albopictus/