American researchers have succeeded in understanding how mosquitoes detect human odors. A step forward that might be considerable in order to create new, more effective repellents.
Interesting track to fight once morest mosquitoes. Researchers from Princeton University have managed to understand how these insects distinguish the smell of humans from that of other mammals.
Thanks to high-resolution images of the mosquito’s brain, they were able to identify the mechanism that allows them to spot these scents. One of their nerve centers, they have 60 in total, tells them ” nearby odors, no matter which ones according to the magazine in the online media Futura which devotes an article to this subject. Another of these nerve centers confirms, by isolating it, that it is indeed a human odor.
New generation repellents
What interests mosquitoes in the “fragrance” emitted by our species is limited to two compounds: decanal and undecanal. American researchers have already patented a mixture containing decanal which they hope might lead to baits that attract mosquitoes to deadly traps or repellents that interrupt its signal. »
For Reunion, plagued by endemic epidemics of dengue fever, the development of a new method of prevention once morest mosquito bites might represent real progress. An advance which, if it proves to be effective, would make it possible to avoid many inconveniences for the victims of this very often exhausting disease.
