Do you feel like you’re being persecuted by mosquitoes? Don’t worry, you’re not crazy. Scientists at Rockefeller University in New York have proven that mosquitoes are indeed attracted to humans. Unfortunately, this preference concerns in particular two species, Anopheles gambiae and Aedes ægypti, carriers of diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.
According to the researchers, these fastidious insects are attracted by our smell, the heat given off by our bodies, and the CO2 we emit. However, the smell remains the main attraction, except in the case of female mosquitoes whose olfactory neuron activity is markedly reduced compared to males.
Research by American scientists has also been used to understand how repellents work. The researchers determined that these chemicals do not only affect the sense of smell of insects, because mosquitoes that do not have them are repelled just like the others. The exact causes of this behavior remain to be elucidated, but this discovery opens the door to research on new control methods, more effective than the previous ones. A way, perhaps, to eradicate the diseases these insects carry?
