Mosquito-borne diseases in Virginia
The table below summarizes the most common mosquito-borne human diseases in Virginia. Click on a disease to learn more about it.
As you can see in the table above, the first four diseases listed are caused by a virus of one sort or another. Viruses transmitted by insects, arachnids (ticks, for example), and other arthropods (see About mosquitoes) are called arboviruses. The word arbovirus is a contraction of "arthropod-borne virus".
Malaria, in contrast, is caused by a type of protist. Protists are members of the Kingdom Protista. Kingdom Protista includes a wide variety of organsims, from the single-celled amoeba to giant kelp seaweed. The protists that causes malaria, four species of the genus Plasmodium, are described in more detail on the malaria page.
In addition, dog heartworm is a mosquito-borne disease affecting dogs but not people. The disease-causing organism in this case is a nematode, aka a roundworm. More information, including methods of treatment and prevention, can be found here.