QUESTION
Is malaria similar to Ross river Fever which is common in Australia? If you have Ross River and get bitten by a mosquito can the mosquito pass it on to some one else.
ANSWER
Ross River fever is similar to malaria in that both are transmitted by mosquitoes. However, Ross River fever is caused by a virus, whereas malaria is caused by a protozoan (single-celled) parasite. Also, the type of mosquitoes they use are different. Malaria can only be transmitted by mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles, whereas the Ross River fever virus is usually transmitted by Aedes or Culex mosquitoes.
Another difference is that Ross River virus also infects lots of other mammals, with kangaroos and wallabies key reservoir species in the wild, whereas the species of malaria which infect humans are more or less limited to us (though there have been cases of human malaria infecting closely related animals, such as gorillas and chimpanzees).
As for your other question, as far as I know there is no reason why a mosquito infected with Ross River virus couldn’t bite multiple humans or other mammals, and thus transmit the disease to several new hosts.
BEcause the Ross River Virus dies in humans (we are not a good host) it cant be transmitted from person to person via mosquito. Studies (so far) say that marsupials, bats (and possibly livestock) have to act as reservoirs (or intermediates) between humans. As far as I know, the live virus has never been isolated in a human, and RRF is a product of a human body reacting to the virus, rather than the virus itself.
Hi Laura, Please see http://medent.usyd.edu.au/fact/ross%20river%20&%20barmah%20forest.htm They suggest that during periods of intesnse virus activity, RR virus transmission cycle from human to mosquito to human (thus occurring without the involvement of an animal) does exist.