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Mosquitoes are not only attracted by the smell of our skin, but there is another factor

2024-08-29 12:16:45Lifestyle SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Mosquitoes are not only attracted by the smell of our skin, but there is another

Mosquitoes are the world's deadliest insects, responsible for millions of deaths and tens of millions of sick people every year. They do this indirectly, carrying viruses and other parasites that cause often fatal diseases such as dengue and malaria. For this reason, finding a way to prevent bites is essential to saving millions of lives. But to do this it is essential to understand how mosquitoes identify us.

Decades of research have taught us that they do not use a single stimulus, but a combination of information that activates different senses: the presence of CO2, for example, our smell, body moisture, and now, as documented by a study published in "Nature ” we can add another trick. Mosquitoes can find us by following the infrared rays emitted by our skin.

The mosquitoes used in the study are probably the most dangerous in the world, those of the Aedes aegypti species, also known as the yellow fever mosquito. These insects use a combination of stimuli to locate us, but we know that any one of these stimuli alone is not enough for mosquitoes to find us. It's not enough for them to find us just by sight, in some cases a slight smell is enough to confuse their chemical identification system.

Knowing that these mosquitoes also use the heat emitted by our bodies, the team from UC Santa Barbara, California, set out to test their ability to detect infrared radiation, which can cover greater distances than direct heat.

The team divided the mosquitoes into two groups, both exposed to a combination of heat, wind, CO 2 and all the other elements these insects use to find us. One of the two groups was also exposed to an infrared source at 34°C (our skin's surface temperature). Mosquitoes in this group redoubled their efforts to find prey to bite.

It is the first time that it has been discovered that infrared also has an impact on mosquitoes. Previous experiments had used them alone, never combining them with other sensory stimuli. In other words, infrared alone has no effect, but if you add humidity, odors, and CO 2 to it, they become another element that mosquitoes use to figure out where to bite.

This new discovery could be used to invent new methods of preventing bites, which could save millions of lives.


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