How do mosquitoes choose their victims? Maybe they prefer to bite those withsweetest blood? Or does it depend on the color of the skin? Neither one nor the other. As Spanish scientists explain in a new study published in the journalPlos One, if themosquitoesis, fundamentally, becausedo we smell of cheese or sweat “.
Specifically, these insects are attracted tobody temperatureand thewet clothes, especially if you are drenched in sweat. On the other hand, to mosquitoesAnopheles gambiaethey like the smell of onecheesecalledLimburguer cheese, since the bacteria involved in its production are related to another that lives in thehuman feet.
To reach these conclusions, Jordi Figuerola and his team have applied anovel techniqueidentification of species that uses theDNA from the blood of the? Victims?of mosquitoes contained in the digestive system of these insects, and which could allow the development of control policies against diseases of which they act as the main transmitters, such as dengue.
According to Figuerola, “the new molecular techniques would serve to determine, for example, ifhave petsit helps mosquitoes bite people less and more the dog, cat or canary. “yellow fever, which is transmitted through mosquitoes to primates and humans, this method will allow us to understand if epidemic outbreaks are due to changes in the feeding patterns of insects, or which species will act more easily as a bridge between monkeys and humans.
For now, researchers have identified that some species of mosquitoes feed on cows, but also deer, fallow deer, wild boar, cats, dogs, horses and even turtles. Others, however, prefer feathered animals, such as theCulex modestus, a species that abounds in the Ebro Delta.
