A whiff of one of three newly identified scents can send a mosquito into a bout of woozy bewilderment, scientists find. These odor molecules, they say, may stop the pests from biting and transmitting malaria and other diseases to humans.
'These chemicals offer powerful advantages as potential tools for reducing mosquito-human contact, and can lead to the development of new generations of insect repellents and lures," study researcher Anandasankar Ray, of the University of California, Riverside, said in a statement.
The compounds could help replace the expensive and toxic repellent DEET and help fight malaria and other diseases spread by mosquitoes, which cause millions of deaths per year. [7 Devastating Infectious Diseases]
I want to sense your blood
Female mosquitoes find their blood meal using special structures near their mouths called maxillary palps, which detect carbon dioxide exhaled by mammals, including humans. When they sense carbon dioxide, they whip around and fly upwind, eventually finding the source.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Buzz Killer: Special Smells Keep Mosquitoes at Bay
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