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Mosquito expert awarded medal for work on disease

Mosquitos might just be a near-ubiquitous nuisance to most, but to Lian Zi-Chin (連日清 ), they are his passion, sworn-enemy and life's work.

The 81 year old Lian, who has worked on mosquito-carried disease prevention for over 60 years, was honored yesterday at the 36th anniversary of the Department of Health (DOH) along with 11 other luminaries in the medical field. He received the medal of health for his recent anti-malaria work in the tiny formal portuguese colony of Sao Tome e Principe.

Lian's commitment to his work is legendary.

"A colleague gave us some blood to provide food for the mosquitos we were breeding for our research," Lian said. "But some refused to drink, while others drank the extracted blood and died."

"In the end, I decided to let them feed off my leg," he said.

When he is not fighting mosquitos, Lian is busy cataloguing the diverse species and observing their behavior.

"There are more than 3,000 different types of mosquitoes in the world," Lian said. "Out of those, only 80 bite."

Of the 80, he added, only 15 are endemic to Taiwan.

"Many varieties are fascinating creatures," Lian said.

He gave mosquitoes of the genus Malaya or "taro mosquitoes," as one such example.

"I call them taro mosquitos because their larvae can often be found in the water-filled cavities formed by leaf axils of the taro plant," he said. "Like many mosquitoes, they feed on nectar, but they way they do it is unique -- they target passing ants and literally rob the nectar that's already in their gullets."

"Other mosquitos help us control their disease-spreading relatives," Lian said.

The giant mosquito, or Toxorhynchite, for example, does not bite humans.

"It is therefore the mosquito we use to produce the dengue fever virus," Lian said. "That way, we do not risk accidentally infecting our staff and others."

"Toxorhynchite larvae are also cannibalistic," Lian said. "They need to disperse their eggs as they are laid so that their offspring will not eat each other. They have been used with some success as biological control agents for other mosquito larvae."

The nation's foremost expert on mosquitoes confirmed what many have suspected for a long time -- that mosquitoes really do prefer biting some people more than others.

"There are three conditions necessary to attract mosquitoes," he said. "Carbon dioxide, body heat and lactic acid in the skin."

"If you have a high body temperature and sweat heavily -- which causes you to have lactic acid on your skin -- you might get more mosquito bites," Lian said.
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