2023-05-19 20:24:58
The attraction that mosquitoes seem to have for some individuals rather than others is increasingly well documented, but until now very little was known regarding why some people’s body odor is more attractive to these people. critters.
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A new study published Friday in the journal Current Biology reveals part of the answer to this question: components of odors produced by the human body are more likely to attract mosquitoes.
The researchers determined that the latter are particularly fond of carboxylic acids, which are produced by bacteria present on the skin, but which appear to us to be odorless, and which are also present in strong-smelling cheeses.
For its part, a chemical component called eucalyptol, notably present in certain plants, seemed to repel these insects.
In an interview with CNN, the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Edgar Simulundu, described these correlations as interesting and exciting.
They might lead to outlets aimed at repelling these critters.
“These findings open up a new approach to developing products to attract and repel mosquitoes,” he says. We can thus potentially control the vectors of the spread of malaria in regions where it is endemic, in particular.”
In order to arrive at these results, the researchers made six people sleep in individual tents connected by a tube to a large room 20 meters by 20 meters where hundreds of mosquitoes were released, the idea being to expose them to different human smells.
Mosquitoes did not have access to the tents, fortunately for the participants.
The movement of the mosquitoes was then tracked by infrared cameras to determine who they were attracted to.
The results of the study will not have an immediate impact, however, because the carboxylic acids cannot be removed by scrubbing with soap, researcher Leslie Vosshall, who also participated in the study, tells CNN. ‘study.
However, these new revelations “give us good insights into what mosquitoes are using to hunt us down, and understanding what it is is an essential step in determining next steps,” she adds.
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