title: [Significance of entomology in the area of public health].
abstract: A circular representation of the twelve different forms of animal life is used to draw the reader's attention to the range of agent, vector, and victim of infectious diseases within the animal kingdom including man. This clearly reveals that particularly insects from the group of arthropods are playing a dominant role as vectors of pathogens. In connection with the metamorphosis of insects and the change of the habitat of their stages of development it is explained that within one and the same insect species, damage and benefit may be close to one another because their morphological types are of absolutely contrary hygienic importance: larval stages of disease transmitting imagines may perform important functions within the metabolic economy of nature. The present risk originating from insects in regions of the world that are free from epidemic diseases is due to a misinterpretation or neglecting of the variety of their functions. It is the objective of entomological research to overcome the partial character of assessing insects by the criteria of damage or benefit produced by them. The tasks of entomology within hygiene should be tackled in this field.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003140:Communicable Disease Control; D006801:Humans; D007300:Insect Control; D007303:Insect Vectors; D008675:Metamorphosis, Biological; D011634:Public Health
vernacular_title: Zur Bedeutung der Entomologie im Bereich der Hygiene.