杏吧原创

IT鈥橲 the bacteria in human sweat that attract bloodsucking mosquitoes,
researchers have discovered.

Perspiration is already known to attract mosquitoes
(New 杏吧原创, 25 September 1999, p 25)
but entomologist Willem Takken from Wageningen
Agricultural University in the Netherlands and his colleagues found that old
sweat was much more potent.

They took sweat from the foreheads of volunteers and tried using it as 鈥渂ait鈥�
for Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes in special traps. Fresh sweat proved
attractive to the insects, but sweat that had been kept for three days was even
more enticing. Sterilised sweat had the least appeal. The researchers conclude
that mosquitoes detect volatile compounds produced by bacteria growing in
perspiration. They think this helps the insects to identify their favoured prey.
鈥淭he microflora on human skin are unique to humans,鈥� says Takken.

But showering regularly will not fool the bloodsuckers. 鈥淵ou can remove the
sweat, but you can never remove microbes in the pores of your skin,鈥� he says.
Instead, the team is working to identify the bacteria鈥檚 chemicals, so they can
develop odour-baited traps. If they were cheap, such traps would be a 鈥済reat
boon鈥�, says medical entomologist Chris Curtis from the London School of Hygiene
and Tropical Medicine. Joanna Marchant