I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't like mosquitos, at all. I always seem to get bitten all the time. Leaving my friends apartment the other day I got 5 bites just from walking from the door to my car. And there was the mosquito that lived in my apartment for about a week even after everyone ensured me that it'd die within 24 hours, it didn't, just kept on biting. There might be hope for people like me, who get bit all the time.
Mosquitos have carbon dioxide olfactory nerve cells, meaning they are attracted and can sense carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, we exhale carbon dioxide making us mosquito magnets. Research is being done on the nerve cells and figuring out how to block them. They are using chemical techniques that affect the nerve, different odors that influence the nerve. There have been two odors that have had success. The first is ethyl pyruvate, which has a fruity odor and has reduces a mosquitos attraction to people. The second is cyclopentanone, which has a mint smell and has drawn mosquitos into non carbon monoxide based traps. The articles were unclear in the mechanism regarding how the nerve was affected, but mosquitos were now drawn to these scents over carbon dioxide.
The goal is to use these natural odors to help ward off mosquitos from people and trap them else where. Carbon dioxide used in traps has poor environmental effects and cyclopentanone offers a safer solution. If ethyl pyruvate gets involved in repellants, my fear would be finding out what bugs ARE attracted to a fruity smell.
What are your thoughts? If we can trap mosquitos with cyclopentanone, should we? How does that affect the environment? What do mosquitos do for the environment, besides giving us a bunch of itchy bites and possibility of disease?
Read more here:
https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/science-ticker/targeting-single-set-nerve-cells-may-block-mosquitoes
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131205141852.htm
YES! We should definitely try this because I'm tired of getting bit by these dang things, they are SO annoying (and can be dangerous)! Cyclopentanone is an organic compound and causes little to no harm to the environment so I think this is a great alternative to more expensive methods of using CO2 to ward off mosquitos.
ReplyDeleteEven mosquitoes are attracted to you, LoL. (just kidding). yea I know there is something about the scent that make them pick their prey aside from the carbon dioxide. Did you notice that cats never get bitten even though they emit carbon dioxide. it must be something in humans that attract them.
ReplyDeleteMosquitoes do bite cats and transmit disease (ever heard of heartworm?), hence the necessity of medications like Revolution to prevent it in cats and dogs. Mosquitoes are supposedly repelled by catnip, so maybe that is a cat’s secret weapon...
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