While you are likely familiar with the annoying experience of being a mosquito’s ‘meal of the day’, more is going on behind the scenes of that insect bite than meets the eye. Mosquitoes, which are drawn to human scent and breath, require proteins from the blood of their victims to develop their eggs and reproduce. This sounds harmless enough, but mosquitoes also excel at picking up blood-borne diseases like malaria and passing them on from person to person, leading to over a million deaths per year. Now, scientists may have found a drug that can reduce this public health burden by making mosquitoes less likely to bite humans.
To tackle this challenge, Leslie Vosshall’s group at The Rockefeller University took advantage of a panel of previously developed drugs that mimic the action of a natural appetite controlling molecule called neuropeptide Y. Vosshall and colleagues screened through over 250,000 of these drugs, eventually landing on one that had the greatest effect on mosquito biting behavior, referred to as compound 18. When mosquitoes were fed a saline solution supplemented with compound 18, they were significantly less drawn to human body odor than mosquitoes fed normal saline. Importantly, they were also less likely to bite lab mice with which they were housed, indicating that treatment with compound 18 translates into decreased biting overall by mosquitoes.
To translate this discovery into reduced human disease transmission, scientists could work with engineers to design mosquito lures that contain saline supplemented with compound 18. This may be far off, however, as scientists still need to find ways to prolong compound 18’s effect, and produce it at large scales. Other groups have devised alternative methods to reduce disease transmission by using hotly debated gene drives to engineer disease-resistant mosquitoes, or reduce mosquito populations overall. Potential risks of genetically engineering mosquitoes include the evolution of new disease strains that can overpower the mosquitoes’ newfound resistance, and changes in the overall ecosystem. Tweaking the behavior of existing mosquitoes through diet may offer a more ecologically responsible solution to our mosquito problems.
For more information:
- To learn about the use of gene drives to reduce disease transmission by mosquitoes, check out this article, previously published by SITN.
- A summary of the biological and geopolitical debate around gene drive technology can be found in this article, published by Vox.
Managing Correspondent: Benjamin Andreone
News Article: A New Way to Keep Mosquitoes From Biting. The Atlantic
Original Article: Small-Molecule Agonists of Ae. aegypti Neuropeptide Y Receptor Block Mosquito Biting. Cell
Image Credit: Pixabay
Noseeums are probably what you are dealing with and me as well. I cannot go outside at night because that’s when they are most active but now they are in my house and I don’t just mean a few I mean an infestation of them. I know I’m not going crazy because my husband feels them too but they aren’t attracted to him like they are to me. Every night I have trouble going to sleep because I feel them crawling all over me and the pinches from when they bite are awfully painful. Almost like being hit with needles a ton of them at a time. I have to shower twice a day just to get them off me but once I step out of the shower they get me again. They they inbed themselves in my clothing, sheets and especially comforters. If I don’t wash my bedding everyday it’s a nightmare. I wash everything with the boatload of baking soda that seems to help slightly but I’m getting to the point where I don’t think I can mentally take this anymore. I need a solution which nobody can provide for me so if anybody reads this and has any advice for me please message me. I would greatly appreciate it.
I started anti-cd20 injections which kills rogue cd20 B-cells and have not been bitten in two years.
I never had a real problem with mosquitoes until lately ‼️ I seem to attract them even
while using repellant, long sleeves & pants‼️ Bites swell up to size of walnut or as large
as a pancake. A few days ago one bite on back of leg was not bothersome, but has turned
into a bruise‼️ I’ve been taking Lisinopril for years, but I don’t think that’s the problem.
I read that mosquitoes are attracted to your skin smell especially sweat‼️ It would sure
be nice if there was a pill that would repel mosquitoes ‼️‼️‼️ Any advise on how to
stop mosquitos from biting ❓I’m allergic to odors, perfumes & scents, so I can use any
scented products.
I’ve always been bitten by mosquitos while abroad and was bitten two years in a row on my left eye which swelled up so I couldn’t see and had to go to hospital for treatment. However, I have just returned from Zante without a single bite and wondered whether taking antihistamines all year round helped prevent me from getting bit
Omg mosquitos love eating me
I am breakfast/dinner/lunch for them
And I end up in hospital on drips
It spoils my holiday to the point i can’t go
All I know is that where I live, I can’t walk outside in the summertime without being eaten alive. I am SO sick of it. I have permanent marks on my legs now from them.
While I spent several months in Ghana, West Africa, I got ONE single mosquito bite the entire time I was there, while the rest of the people I was there with were eaten alive.
Maybe it’s the type of mosquito as well as your blood type.
I live in the Eastern US and am O Positive Blood type. More recently, I take Norvasc/Amlodipine for blood pressure and they tear me up so bad I have to wear long pants, a sweatshirt and whatnot to even begin to sit on my back patio in the summertime and they STILL get me.
I DESPISE THEM!
You’re probably being bitten by noseeums. They have me trapped in my house, too. I live in Alabama, and last years storm, Ian, brought them up shore. Night time is especially frightening.
I’m dealing with that same problem too but now they have infested my house. They inbed themselves in my clothing, sheets, and especially comforters. Every night I have trouble sleeping because I feel them crawling all over me and if I don’t wash my bedding everyday it’s a nightmare. I’ve tried everything under the sun but nothing seems to work and I have two cats so I can’t do any types of essential oils which don’t work anyway. I’m allergic to all types of bug sprays so I can’t use that either but if you have any good advice I’m open ears because I can’t seem to mentally handle this anymore. I know it’s not just me because I thought that at first but my husband feels them as well but they are more drawn to me than they are drawn to him. I’m using oatmeal body wash which seems to help slightly and taking large amounts of vitamin B because I read somewhere that that might help I haven’t seen a difference from it yet. My husband even went underneath the house and spread a whole bunch of salt to kill them and it got rid of the ants but not the noseeums lol. I’m out of ideas at this point and can’t handle this much longer but they never seem to go away so if you have any helpful advice I would greatly appreciate it if you send me a message back. Thank you
I’m a seventy year old male , all my childhood and early life I was always highly attractive to mosquitoes. In my 40’s I had a heart transplant, and for the last 30 years I have daily taken a large array of different drugs, including prednisone, toprolol, synthroid, lipitor, cyclosporine, rapamune, cozaar, torsemide, and procrit.
My life is much improved, but mosquitoes still are more attracted to me than anyone else in the house. None of these drugs have any effect on the mosquitoes. I still find myself cowering in doors during the summers.