Sweet Sorrow for Mosquitoes

One of the more common annoyances experienced by people visiting or living in Mexico is the presence of mosquitoes.  Mosquitoes make their home here along with other apparent ‘scary’ creatures such as spiders, scorpions and snakes; but unlike the creatures that crawl, mosquitoes are far more commonly seen and felt – and thus can become more annoying.

Mosquitoes in Mexico are particularly proliferate during the rainy season – May to October.

An article published in a British newspaper this weekend reported on some findings revealed by a government-funded research institute in the UK which demonstrated that, of the varieties partial to biting humans, mosquitoes do not care for humans that expel a ‘fruity-sweet smelling’ body odor through their sweat.

Of the 3,500 varieties of mosquitoes found world-wide, very few feed on humans.  Mosquitoes feed on nectar as their principal source of nourishment, although females also supplement their diet with animal or human blood to boost their protein intake – a substance that is critical to their egg production.

It has been known for years that mosquitoes exhibit a tendency to bite some humans and avoid others and much folklore has been woven around the matter of who is more or less likely to be bitten and why.

This latest research has uncovered a correlation between sweet, fruity, scents in people’s sweat and mosquitoes which avoid humans.   Studies and tests carried out by the institute revealed that people who were normally susceptible to mosquito bites were left alone when they sprayed natural repellents rich in these ‘fruit scented’ fragrances onto their skin.

The researchers are now in discussions with companies to help develop natural repellents that do not rely upon DEET, a substance that is widely employed in insect repellents because it is known to repel mosquitoes, but which some research suggests may also be harmful to humans.

See Also: Health and Safety in Mexico