The study consisted of 8 pairs of identical twins and 19 pairs of nonidentical twins, all female. They found that expert sniffers were able to match the scents to the identical twins and then tested the identical and nonidentical twins to see which were more attractive to the mosquitoes.The research revealed that the participants' attractiveness to mosquitoes was more similar in identical twins than the non-identical twins, which supports their idea that your genetic makeup influences the odor that attracts mosquitoes.
There is more research that must be done to support this idea. This could be extremely useful in the future to prevent malaria, which has killed thousands of people as a result of contracting it through mosquitoes. One author of the study, James Logan, predicts, "In the future, we may even be able to take a pill which will enhance the production of natural repellents by the body and ultimately replace skin lotions,"
This could be helpful for the future because personally, I believe the chemical repellents we currently use are toxic to humans and over time may harm us more than we know. If it were possible to use this genetic research to formulate an oral prevention method, it would not only prevent people from contracting malaria, but also repel mosquitoes in a less harmful way to our bodies.
Very interesting article, it explains why people are more vulnerable to bites. I agree that we should find a prevention method, but with a more holistic approach. We tend to create a pill for every imaginable problem. With pills, in the long run we will end up with more side effects and problems than just a mosquito bite!
ReplyDeleteAs someone who is constantly falling victim to mosquitoes, I found this article very informative. Typically, bug repellent does nothing to stop the mosquitos from biting me and now I have a clue as to why this may be the case. Hopefully this research not only helps to better prevent malaria outbreaks, but leads to developments in more effective mosquito repellents based on genetic makeup.
ReplyDeleteI never thought being bit up by mosquitoes would have to do with genetics. This is very interesting and I hope they find out more about it so that they can help humans and animals that are more prone to mosquito bites. Creating a holistic solution would be ideal because I know a lot of people that just wish mosquitoes did not exist but in reality if they did not exist the whole food chain would be affected. Trying to figure out what attracts mosquitoes and how to reduce it will be a great thing! I know my sister would love to hear about the advances in this study because she gets attacked by mosquitoes year round!
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