Mosquito
Saliva

Mosquito saliva contains enzymes that aid in sugar feeding, and antimicrobial agents that control bacterial growth in the sugar meal.

For a mosquito to obtain a blood meal, it must circumvent its vertebrate host's physiological responses. Mosquito saliva blocks the host's hemostasis system, with proteins that reduce vascular constriction, blood clotting, and platelet aggregation, to ensure the blood keeps flowing. It modulates the host's immune response via a mixture of proteins which lower angiogenesis and immunity; create inflammation; suppress tumor necrosis factor release from activated mast cells; suppress interleukin (IL)-2 and IFN-γ production; suppress T cell populations; decrease expression of interferon −α/β, making virus infections more severe; increase natural killer T cells in the blood; and decrease cytokine production.
length_constraints:number_paragraphs[6]