Mosquitoes infected with the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum are significantly more attracted to human odors than uninfected mosquitoes, according to research published May 15 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by James Logan and colleagues from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK.
The authors investigated the response of mosquitoes infected with P. falciparum malaria parasites and uninfected to human odor collected on a fabric matrix. Mosquitoes that were infected with the parasites landed and probed significantly more than uninfected mosquitoes in response to the odor. Previous research has already shown that the malarial parasite can alter mosquito behavior in ways that increase the rate of malaria transmission. For example, malaria-infected mosquitoes also consume larger, more frequent blood meals than their uninfected counterparts. For the first time this study reports that, "malaria-infectious females are more attracted to human odors than uninfected mosquitoes".
According to the researchers, studies of mosquito behavior in the context of malaria transmission usually use uninfected mosquito subjects, and their study suggests that such behavioral studies may not always be representative of the behavior of infected mosquitoes. They conclude that understanding the olfactory changes underlying the behavior of these infected mosquitoes may help identify new compounds that could be used to develop mosquito traps for surveillance programs.
Citation: Smallegange RC, van Gemert G-J, van de Vegte-Bolmer M, Gezan S, Takken W, et al. (2013) Malaria Infected Mosquitoes Express Enhanced Attraction to Human Odor. PLoS ONE 8(5): e63602. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0063602
Financial Disclosure: The authors have no support or funding to report.
Competing Interest Statement: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
PLEASE LINK TO THE SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT (URL goes live after the embargo ends): http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0063602
Disclaimer: This press release refers to upcoming articles in PLOS ONE. The releases have been provided by the article authors and/or journal staff. Any opinions expressed in these are the personal views of the contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of PLOS. PLOS expressly disclaims any and all warranties and liability in connection with the information found in the release and article and your use of such information.
About PLOS ONE: PLOS ONE is the first journal of primary research from all areas of science to employ a combination of peer review and post-publication rating and commenting, to maximize the impact of every report it publishes. PLOS ONE is published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS), the open-access publisher whose goal is to make the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource.
All works published in PLOS ONE are Open Access. Everything is immediately available—to read, download, redistribute, include in databases and otherwise use—without cost to anyone, anywhere, subject only to the condition that the original authors and source are properly attributed. For more information about PLOS ONE relevant to journalists, bloggers and press officers, including details of our press release process and our embargo policy, see the everyONE blog at http://everyone.plos.org/media.
Journal
PLoS ONE