Question

read the chart think about what these symptoms look or feel like.
insect- and arachnid-borne diseases
the following chart lists some diseases that can be passed to humans from insects (such as mosquitoes and flies) and arachnids (such as ticks and spiders).

disease	carrier	type of germ	symptoms	severity
lyme disease	tick	bacterium	rash; fever; headache; body aches; fatigue; damage to heart, nerves, and joints	moderate to high
chagas disease	kissing bug	parasite	swelling; fever; body aches; headache; rash; nausea; vomiting; damage to the heart, esophagus, brain lining, and colon	low to moderate
dengue fever	mosquito	virus	fever; pain behind eyes; body aches; rash; severe for children bleeding	low, but can be severe for children
yellow fever	mosquito	virus	fever, chills, back and body aches, headache, nausea, bleeding, black vomit, low blood pressure, heart failure, coma, seizures	low to moderate
sleeping sickness	tsetse fly	parasite	fever, headache, body aches, irritability, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, rash, confusion, personality changes	very high if untreated

*source: centers for disease control and prevention

strategy practice visualize and describe how a person with one of these diseases might appear.

skill practice read the item. write your response.

1. which insect in the chart is responsible for spreading the most diseases? how do you know?
2. name the symptoms that are common to all six diseases in the chart.
3. how can a reader tell where the information for the chart was obtained?

Explanation:

1.

Step1: Count diseases per insect

Mosquito: Malaria, Dengue fever, Yellow fever → 3 diseases.
Tick: Lyme disease → 1.
Kissing bug: Chagas disease → 1.
Tsetse fly: Sleeping sickness → 1.

Step2: Compare counts

3 > 1, so mosquito has most.

Check symptoms of each disease: Malaria (fever, body aches), Lyme (fever, body aches), Chagas (fever, body aches), Dengue (fever, body aches), Yellow (fever, body aches), Sleeping (fever, body aches). So fever and body aches are common.

Look for source note. The chart has a Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note, so readers see that.

Answer:

The mosquito is responsible for spreading the most diseases. We know this by counting the number of diseases associated with each insect: mosquitoes spread malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever (3 diseases), while ticks spread Lyme disease (1), kissing bugs spread Chagas disease (1), and tsetse flies spread sleeping sickness (1). Since 3 is more than 1, the mosquito spreads the most diseases.

2.