Fever, the Panama Canal, poetry and Roman emperors … All are linked by the mosquito, the pesky night-time bomber that buzzes its way into everyone’s life. For some its bite brings deadly disease, for others it is a work of art. Certainly it is the ultimate survivor; all attempts to wipe it out have failed. But are scientists finally on the verge of a breakthrough in the fight against malaria? Trigger Issues—Mosquito explores how its 2,500 species have invaded not only bodies but culture too: every language acknowledges its fearsome reputation and pays a grudging respect to the tiny terror. In the words of the Dalai Lama, “If you think you are too small to make a difference try sleeping with a mosquito.”

Richard Swift is an internationally regarded journalist and a former editor of New Internationalist magazine. He has done stories from many parts of the world on issues as varied as famine and the plight of farmers, slums, the prison system and struggles for national liberation. Swift is author of S.O.S. Alternatives to Capitalism, now in its second edition; The No-Nonsense Guide to Democracy and Trigger Issues: Mosquito, and editor of Ties That Bind: Canada and the Third World. He is on the editorial board of Canadian Dimension magazine. He has also worked as a radio journalist.

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