Microbes on our skin, can attract mosquitoes?
Have you ever wondered how
mosquitoes choose their victims? Based on this article, it has little to do
with how sweet and tasty our blood is. Researchers have recently discovered
that mosquitoes might be attracted to us based on the microbes living on our skin.
The bacteria on our skin leave a distinct body odor that attracts the
mosquitoes. Of course we all sweat and leave behind some kind of odor, but
researchers have found that this particular odor is linked to the amount of bacteria on our skin.
Researchers began their study in
the Netherlands. They were curious as to what kinds of people attracted the Anaopheles gambiae sensu stricto mosquito,
a mosquito known to transmit malaria. By using men as their test subjects,
researchers found that this particular mosquito was attracted to people with
the most, yet least diverse amount of bacteria on their skin. Researchers
believe that with this new finding, they can find new techniques for preventing
malaria. I do believe that this new discovery will help in preventing malaria,
however, what about other diseases that are transmitted through other
mosquitoes? So far we know that a large amount of bacteria on a person will
attract this particular mosquito, but what about others? Are mosquitoes that
transmit different infectious diseases attracted to other kinds of microbes on
our skin, more or less bacteria? Or is it all mostly the same for all
mosquitoes, no matter the disease? Researchers did find that the general
population of mosquitoes are attracted to people with more cholesterol or
steroids on their skin rather than less. They also found that people who give
off more carbon dioxide are more likely to be bit by a mosquito, though we all
give off carbon dioxide. So what does this mean for us? Could cutting down on
cholesterol and steroids really help prevent getting bit?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/29/skin-microbes-mosquitoes-bacteria-attractive_n_1174754.html
That was really cool to learn about how mosquitoes choose their next victims based on what microbes inhabit our skin, I have never heard that they could do that before. The only thing I know about mosquitoes is that they supposedly choose people based on their blood type (O+ is their favorite) and they go from there based on pharamones our different blood types seem to give off. Its interesting, however, that the microbes that live on your very skin can make you a walking target for their next strike. Which brings up the question, are there more elements bugs/animals can detect that humans can not? Like the mosquitoes and blood type pharamones. Or are there maybe microbes that they can pick up on us or other objects that makes us irresistible? It is amazing how much microbes play a part in our world.
ReplyDeleteThis article was a very interesting one. I had thought that mosquitoes bit people at random; I would have never guessed it had anything even remotely close to the amount and type of microbes on our skin. I also did not know that bacteria leave a certain odor on our skin. It was also interesting to discover that mosquitoes are attracted to people with cholesterol and steroids. This discovery is of great importance because mosquitoes are very dangerous, since they are able to spread malaria and other diseases very quickly and effectively through their bites. If scientist are able keep on studying the bacteria on certain peoples skin. They can maybe eventually discover what strains of bacteria attract mosquitoes the most, and then they can maybe develop something to repel them. This discovery if continued can have the potential to save many peoples lives in countries in Africa and around the world, where malaria has a high death rate.
ReplyDeleteWow, very interesting article. I too thought mosquitoes just sought blood at random and werent focusing on microbes. I also had no idea that the malaria transmitting mosquito focused on moist but clean skin. Its so cool to see that by knowing this aspect of mosquitoes, it can help fighting off malaria. Its just crazy to see that just by having more cholesterol and steroids in your body can attract mosquitoes. You learn something new everyday!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting article! Sami's comment made me wonder whether different blood types are correlated with different microbial makeups on humans.
ReplyDelete