Find an effective and inexpensive mosquito repellent

A group of scientists working in the United States is developing an effective and much cheaper mosquito repellent than the one currently used.

The study was conducted at California Riverside University, based on the fact that mosquitoes use the same sensory organs to detect carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) in the breath of humans and the smell of skin when they fly. come closer.

Anandasankar Ray - a leading researcher on mosquitoes - said scientists have tried more than 1 million chemical compounds until they discovered a substance called Ethyl pyruvate , which could " disable" muscle sensory sense of mosquitoes.

Mr. Ray said when putting Ethyl pyruvate on his arm and putting it in a box that locked the hungry mosquitoes, almost no mosquitoes approached the arm, because the organ sensed the smell and breath of they have been disabled.

Photos: blogs.squaremouth.com

Genevieve Tauxe, a scientist from the research group, said that it is not easy to detect nerve cells that mosquitoes use to detect breathing and the fragrance of the skin.

With this new drug, we can insert a small amount of electrode into the nasal area of ​​the mosquito, where the olfactory neurons concentrate and also the place where the smell is smelled, effectively.

In addition, the drug based on the compound Ethyl pyruvate can be produced at a cheaper cost than DEET - the most effective mosquito repellent available today. DEET is considered too "expensive" for people in areas affected by malaria.

Finding better smelling chemicals will help "attack" directly on other mosquitoes' important sensing systems, we can absolutely improve DEET and ultimately create next-generation products. Control insect behavior.

Scientists at the University of California say they believe they will soon find a way to make mosquitoes more effective and cheaper.

In many parts of the world, mosquitoes are a seasonal pest. In some other areas, this insect has caused serious diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 630,000 people have died from malaria in 2012, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa.