When asked “what is the world’s deadliest animal?” typically our minds wonder to a shark, snake, or even humans. It is easy to jump to those conclusions, thinking that those are the animals that can harness the most power and make us weak with one attack; leaving us to fight for our lives after one encounter. But the world’s most deadliest animal, is much smaller and stealthier. This animal constantly surrounds us, without most knowing how deadly they actually are.

The mosquito is the world’s deadliest animal, with the World Health Organization estimating 725,000 deaths per year due to mosquito-borne illnesses. The most common mosquito-borne illness is malaria, which at least 200 million people are affected and 600,000 end up dying. Along with malaria, mosquitoes also carry yellow fever and encephalitis.

Mosquitoes threaten half the world’s population and causes billions of dollars of loss of productivity for families and farms per year. This insect is found all over the world except for Antarctica and has about 2,500 species. They are able to rapidly reproduce and outnumber every other animal except for termites and ants. Mosquitoes carry and transmit diseases and parasites that are deadly, especially in developing countries around the world that do not have the resources to properly help those who have fallen sick to mosquito-borne illness. Developing countries in Africa, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, where in 2015 88% of malaria cases came from that region with a 90% malaria related deaths, suffer the most and face illness due to mosquitoes, but other parts of the world such as South and Central America are more susceptible to disease transmitted by mosquitoes.

Malaria, being the most common and deadliest disease to which mosquitoes carry, is an acute febrile illness. Symptoms for malaria usually appear about 7-15 days after being bitten by a mosquito. First, a person suffers from headaches, fevers, chills, and vomiting. Those first symptoms can be misleading though, having people think that maybe it is the flu or another illness, but if a person is not treated within 24 hours, this disease becomes more life threatening.

Children who contract malaria develop symptoms more along the lines of severe anemia, respiratory distress or cerebral malaria. Women and children are more susceptible to contracting malaria transmitted through mosquitoes. Malaria, being as deadly as it is, is preventable and curable. Between 2000-2015, incidences among populations at risk fell by 37% globally and in that same period of time, death risks have fallen 60% globally among all age groups by a 65% among children under the age of 5.

When people are asked to describe what it’s like living with malaria, this is a typically response:

“I awoke to what felt like lightning going through my legs, and then spreading through my body and in my head. Probably the worst headache, body aches, and chills you could possibly imagine. It felt like I was being stung repeatedly by an electric shock gun and could barely control my movements. The pain was so intense; I actually believed I was dying, literally crying out in pain so bad that I was taken to a 24 hour clinic that night at 3 a.m.”

People everyday are feeling like this, and although death rates have come down, a tremendous amount of people are still suffering from malaria, due to transmission through mosquitoes. Image having to push through this pain at work, school, or even doing daily chores around the house. Diseases like malaria cause it hard for these developing countries to grow and economically develop because its people are falling ill to a disease that is preventable. It’s easy to be ignorant of other people’s pain around the world, since we are not directly impacted, but that doesn’t mean efforts to help out others who are suffering should stall. Simply raising awareness about the deadliness of mosquitoes and the disease they transmit like malaria helps to surface this pressing issue. Organizations like The Borgen Project, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Health Organization, and many more work towards stopping malaria and mosquitoes.

Who would have ever though that the tiniest of animals could be so deadly? Who could have thought mosquitoes could cause so much pain, suffering, and death?