by thenewgreen

The mosquito's feeding habits are another boon for virus spreading. In general, female mosquitoes bite people or other warm-blooded creatures because they need the blood to hatch their eggs. Most mosquitoes get some blood in one bite and get on with reproduction. But Aedes aegypti is what's known as a "sip feeder." It takes lots of little sips of blood from lots of people. So once an Aedes aegypti mosquito is infected with a virus, it's able to spread it multiple times in its two- to four-week life.