Exposure to light can suppress the mosquitoes have the desire to bite
Scientists from the University of Notre Dame has discovered that a nightly 10-minute exposure to light in the malarial mosquito Anopheles gambiae suppresses his desire to bite humans.
Details can be found in Parasites and Vectors.
The mosquito Anopheles gambiae is a major malaria vector in Africa. Every year 429 000 people, mostly children, die from the bite of Anopheles mosquitoes. “Anopheles gambiae develop resistance to insecticides, so we need new methods of mosquito control,” — said study author Giles Duffield.
Scientists have divided the mosquitoes into two groups. Mosquitoes from the control group remained in the dark. Insects from the experimental group, the researchers worked with a pulse of white light for 10 minutes. Then the researchers tested the tendency of mosquitoes to bite immediately after exposure to light and every two hours throughout the night. The results showed that mosquitoes from the experimental group the desire to bite was gone.
In another experiment, the scientists for several seconds, glaring in mosquitoes every two hours, and then found that in this way it is possible to suppress a desire to have mosquitoes bite almost 12 hours.
According to scientists, the use of pulses of light is probably more effective, as the mosquitoes are difficult to adapt to light, exposure to which they are exposed in different doses and periodically. Now, researchers tested the effectiveness of different wavelengths of light, which would also less disturbed people during sleep. Scientists believe that will develop new measures to prevent mosquito bites.