Anopheles is a genus of medically very important mosquitoes. About 50 species are important as disease vectors in transmitting malaria and the nematodes that cause elephantiasis. During the process of taking a blood meal, the disease entity, present in either the proboscis or salivary glands, is injected with the saliva.
In 1993, in a resurgence of concern over re-emerging diseases in Russia, malarial mosquitoes were reported as breeding in the reservoirs around Moscow and people were being urged to take precautions.
In Guyana, construction of sea defences favoured breeding of mosquitoes by preventing flooding by sea water, thus increasing rates of malaria infection among children from 0-5 percent to 14-78 percent. Similar phenomena have been recorded in Java, Panama and Puerto Rico.