William Atkins
Monday, 25 August 2008 20:03
Science -
Health
Page 1 of 2
U.S. entomologists find that mosquitoes are very sensitive to DEET (N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide), the active ingredient in many insect repellents. The surprising information is likely to help prevent diseases being spread worldwide by mosquitoes.
The research of
Zainulabeuddin Syed and
Walter S. Leal is summarized in their article “
Mosquitoes smell and avoid the insect repellent DEET,” (pdf file) which is published in the August 18, 2008 issue of the journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Syed and Leal, both from the Department of Entomology at the University of California (Davis), write in the
abstract to their paper,
“The insect repellent DEET is effective against a variety of medically important pests, but its mode of action still draws considerable debate.”
They add,
“The widely accepted hypothesis that DEET interferes with the detection of lactic acid has been challenged by demonstrated DEET-induced repellency in the absence of lactic acid. The most recent hypothesis suggests that DEET masks or jams the olfactory system by attenuating electrophysiological responses to 1-octen-3-ol [ORN, octenol]
.”
Dr. Leal states in the WebMD article “
What Bugs Mosquitoes? Smelling DEET,”
"We found that mosquitoes can smell DEET and they stay away from it." He added, “
DEET doesn't mask the smell of the host or jam the insect's senses. Mosquitoes don't like it because it smells bad to them."
Their research
“… shows that mosquitoes smell DEET directly and avoid it.”
Page two continues on specifics on their study and why their study is very important to the health and well-being of the world's peoples.
