It’s the same thing every summer. Night falls, well settled in your bed, your eyes begin to close. Suddenly, you hear the hissing buzz of the mosquito heading towards you. He warns of his future sting, inevitable, except for the experts. In some corners of the world, this little bloodsucking insect is more than just a restless night. In sub-Saharan Africa, it is responsible for 400,000 deaths following the contraction of malaria.
This is why a group of researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in the United States wanted to look into the hunting behavior of mosquitoes, reports Le Figaro. The previous experiments having always been carried out in the laboratory, the team of scientists this time wanted to get closer to real conditions. In a giant mosquito arena built in Zambia, they brought in 200 female mosquitoes of the species Anopheles gambiae, often carriers of malaria. Around the arena, six tents have been set up, connected by individual pipes to the structure.
One of the professors, researchers, warns those who wash their feet badly. According to him, if you don’t wash your feet, you attract mosquitoes more easily because it retains the bacteria that emit odors. The study by American researchers is therefore valuable for understanding which chemical compounds are most pleasing to mosquitoes and thus better preventing them.
Conor McMeniman, a researcher in molecular microbiology at Johns Hopkins University and co-author of the study, proposed an innovative idea to fight malaria, “the creation of imitations of human odor could serve as bait or decoys in mass traps”. According to him, by identifying the microbes present on our skin that attract mosquitoes the most, it would be easier to develop really effective repellents. This approach is all the more necessary, when we know that mosquitoes develop resistance to current insecticides over time, not to mention the pollution problems these products cause.
While waiting for the development of this miracle cure, here are our 10 tips to keep mosquitoes away.
