High School

Which insect causes many mites and burrows, resulting in widespread scaling, and is seen in the immunocompromised?

a) Mosquito
b) Flea
c) Louse
d) Scabies mite

Answer :

Final answer:

The scabies mite is associated with burrows and scaling and is problematic for immunocompromised individuals. Body lice transmit epidemic typhus, while the tsetse fly is responsible for spreading African sleeping sickness.

Explanation:

The insect that causes many mites, burrows, widespread scaling, and is often seen in the immunocompromised is the scabies mite. When answering questions related to insect-transmitted diseases, it is essential to match the correct vector with the disease it transmits. For example, body lice are known to transmit epidemic typhus. The biological vector for African sleeping sickness is the tsetse fly, not a mosquito. Another example of a disease vector is the mosquito, which plays a crucial role in the transmission of diseases such as malaria.

Protists like Trypanosoma brucei evade the host immune system by altering their surface proteins with each generation. This mechanism is one of the ways that parasites can persist within their host and avoid being eliminated by the immune system. Additionally, Plasmodium falciparum, which is responsible for malaria, is a parasitic protist that goes through various life stages and can lay dormant for long periods, making it a particularly complex disease to control.