Disease Researchers Try Luring Malaria-Bearing Mosquitoes with Stinky Socks
Mosquito Germán Meyer Researchers are testing a potent new tool in the fight against malaria: dirty socks. Experiments are underway in three villages to see if smelly socks can lure mosquitoes into poisoned traps as effectively as synthetic chemical baits that can be expensive and complicated to mix. If so, good old fashioned human stink could become a key tool for curbing malaria infections. It turns out mosquitoes--the number one carrier of malaria, which kills something like 900,000 people per year--love smelly socks. Previous studies have shown that synthetic, chemically-derived bait is more attractive to mosquitoes than human bodies (up to the point the mosquitoes realize there's not a meal in it for them), but smelly socks could be just as effective as the synthetic bait. This is the first time a study has pitted human odor and chemical bait against each other in the field, and the results could change...