An infectious disease expert explains why mosquitoes bite us and how to keep them away.
healthmatters.nyp.org | Story By Julia Morrill
Summer is in full swing, and so is mosquito season — the buzzing, the bites, the stinging, and the itching have arrived. While we all try our best to ward off mosquitoes, some people seem to be mosquito magnets. Why are mosquitoes attracted to some people more than others? “There is a lot of buzz around this debate,” says Dr. Laura Kirkman, an infectious disease doctor at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. “But scientists are homing in on how scent directs mosquitoes to bite certain people.”
Dr. Kirkman says that it’s important to focus on deterring mosquitoes because bites can be more than a mere annoyance. Every year, cases of West Nile virus are reported across the U.S., and in recent weeks, seven cases of locally acquired malaria have been confirmed in Florida and Texas for the first time in two decades. While strains of malaria have been seen in the U.S. from returned travelers, the cases in Florida and Texas are unique because the people affected had no travel history.
“We used to have a considerable amount of malaria in the U.S. However, in the early 1950s, we were able to eradicate the disease with measures such as draining swamps and the use of insecticides,” says Dr. Kirkman, who focuses her research on the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which infects people in sub-Saharan Africa. “The species we are seeing in Florida and Texas is one that predominates in most of Latin America, a less virulent type called Plasmodium vivax.”
Dr. Kirkman shared more with Health Matters about mosquito-borne illnesses, as well as why mosquitoes bite, why they are drawn to certain people, and what to do if you get bitten.
Why do mosquitoes bite?
It’s an interesting evolutionary question. Mosquitoes need nectar and blood to survive. Male mosquitoes mainly feed on nectar, but females require a blood meal from humans and other mammals, as blood is important for egg development. Ticks are similar. The females are doing most of the hard work to keep the species alive.
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