#Preparedness - DEET Ain't Getting It Done Anymore!
Mosquitoes learn to link the smell of DEET with a blood meal, new study finds
Mosquitoes learn to link the smell of DEET with a blood meal, new study finds
(In 1900, Malaria was the #1 Cause of death in the county I work in. It’s a wonder it isn’t still high on the list. We’ve noticed Deet’s reduced effectiveness for some time- DD)
(Leon Hugo, The Conversation) - Mosquito repellents are key to protecting ourselves from mosquito bites and the pathogens they might carry. The most widely used active ingredient in insect repellents is N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide, commonly known as DEET.
Highly effective, long-lasting (approximately five hours) and cheap to make, DEET is a gold-standard insect repellent. But even though it was developed more than 80 years ago, there are important gaps in our understanding of how DEET actually works.
A new paper in the Journal of Experimental Biology led by Claudio Lazzari from the University of Tours, France, now shows mosquitoes can be conditioned to be attracted to DEET.
This provides an important piece of the puzzle in our understanding of how DEET works, and hints that this important mozzie repellent could have a vulnerability.
A vital tool that’s not fully understood
Insect repellents are a major method of protection against mosquito-borne diseases including malaria, dengue, chikungunya, Ross River virus, Japanese encephalitis virus and more. Many of these diseases are expanding on a global scale due to…
I will be the only one who gets bit and I love being in the swamps is what it is fuckin flying syringes