Germana Carillo Mosquitoes sense infrared from body heat. A factor which, when combined with CO2 and human odor, facilitates the very annoying bites
Whether it be summer or, as it happens these days, even winter, whether you are as naked as a newborn or dressed as if going to the mountains, there the mosquitoes are-almost omnipresent-to plunge their accursed stingers into your skin in search of your veins.
Mosquitoes are no joking matter. In fact, they account for over a million deaths worldwide each year (according to data collected by the American Mosquito Control Association)-mostly due to malaria and other diseases they spread-and disproportionately affect developing countries. Quite an impact for such a tiny creature. But what are they really attracted to? We have already told you about some natural ways of keeping them at bay and a string of home remedies to heal their itchy, victimizing bites, but what is it about you that makes mosquitoes find you irresistible?
It is well known that some factors-dark clothing, body temperature, and movement-can irresistibly attract a swarm of hungry mosquitoes. That’s not all: Mosquitoes go for CO2 that humans-and animals-give off when breathing, the scent of our skin or particular soaps, even specific colors of clothing.
The study
According to one study published in Nature, infrared radiation given off by the warmth of our bodies does attract mosquitoes, but only when it’s combined with other signals.
Infrared radiation from a source at about human skin temperature, as the team headed by the UC Santa Barbara researchers found out, doubles up the insects’ general behavior in searching out a host when combined with CO2 and human scent.
“The mosquito we study, Aedes aegypti, is unusually adept at finding human hosts,” says co-lead author Nicolas DeBeaubien. “This work helps illuminate how they pull that off.
To conduct the study, researchers split mosquitoes into two groups, exposing all to a mix of heat, scent, CO2, and the other elements these insects use to find us. One of two groups was exposed to an infrared source set to 93.2°F (34°C), the temperature of human skin. Mosquitoes receiving this treatment doubled their efforts in finding their targets.
It is concluded that the infrared radiation in and of itself produces no effect but in conjunction with other complex factors adds to the cue for the mosquito as to where to bite.
