![]() It is best to buy them in specialized stores or pharmacies and follow the advice on the label “to the letter,” says Rentokil Initial’s Bueno. How to avoid them?Įxperts agree that the best weapon for those who are persecuted by these insects is a good repellent. “No two mosquitoes are alike and they have enormous differences in behavior, habits, reactions and appetites,” says the CEAB researcher. However, Eritja points out that these studies are usually done with a single mosquito species and it is difficult to extrapolate the results to other species. Other research has pointed to the victim’s blood type and even beer consumption as factors of attraction. Although washing with the soaps “significantly” modified human body odors, the attraction or repellency of the subjects depended on the interaction between the changes produced by the soap and the specific scent composition of each host. Last May, the journal Cell published the results of an experiment in which the authors tested four commercial soaps on different subjects to see if their components changed the volunteers’ “odor fingerprint” to attract or repel these insects. No two mosquitoes are alike and they have enormous differences in behavior, habits, reactions and appetites” Roger Eritja, head of entomology at Mosquito Alert and researcher at the Center for Advanced Studies in Blanes Most of these elements are produced by bacteria on our skin, so age, sex and being sick can play a role, Ruiz explains, adding that pregnant women are more attractive to mosquitoes. “Because these compounds vary in each individual, there may be people who are more attractive and those who are less so,” he continues. When we sweat, we secrete a series of chemical substances, such as lactic acid and octanol, which attract these insects, says Ruben Bueno, entomologist and head of Vector Control for Europe at Rentokil Initial in Spain. They also use body temperature to locate their target, but it is the sweat that makes them choose one person or another’s blood to suck. ![]() First, they detect the carbon dioxide exhaled by their prey, which tells them where it is, says María José Ruiz, a researcher at the Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD) in Spain. There are several factors that lead them to their victim, and each species has its own preferences. What attracts mosquitoes?įemales only bite because they need the blood to reproduce, not to feed. Several experts tell EL PAÍS what makes some people more attractive to mosquitoes than others, and how best to avoid being bitten. In Europe, they do not pose a great risk - the main harm they cause is discomfort from their bites - but the continent is not exempt from danger either. In 2020, the WHO warned that mosquitoes are responsible more than 700,000 deaths per year worldwide. ![]() Although this insect is native to Asia, in recent years it has invaded Europe and the Mediterranean. The most common are the common mosquito ( Culex pipiens), which transmits West Nile fever, and the tiger mosquito ( Aedes albopictus), which can transmit malaria, yellow fever, dengue and Zika. Raimundo Outerelo, professor emeritus of zoology at the Complutense University of Madrid, says that there are some 3,500 different species of mosquitoes in the world. In addition to being annoying, these insects are also dangerous, as they can transmit numerous diseases. Summer has arrived in the northern hemisphere, temperatures are rising and the mosquitoes are back.
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