Mosquitoes Have Mixed Feelings About Soap, Study Finds

“In particular, we like to scent our soaps with chemicals typically associated with the pleasant scent of flowers and plants. But mosquitoes also use plant-emitted volatiles to find them and obtain sugars from their nectar,” Vinauger explained. “So, we suspected that adding these chemicals to our body odor would affect their attraction, in one way or another. But this had to be tested experimentally.”they identified each person’s unique smell signature.

chemicals to the composition of our body odor,” Vinauger said. “Our work also revealed the importance of the interaction between the specific soap chemicals and the body odor of each specific individual in determining whether a person would become more or less attractive to mosquitoes after applying soap to their skin.”

In only some volunteers, for instance, the mosquitoes became more attracted to their scent after they washed with Dove and Simple Truth brand soap, while Native brand soap was more consistently repellent to them.The team also identified potential chemicals in these soaps that seemed to be the most responsible for attracting or repelling the bugs. Out of these candidates, it was a coconut-scented chemical that appeared to be the most effective at keeping mosquitoes away.

. But the team hopes to obtain funding to conduct larger studies that can test a wider range of soaps and volunteers while addressing other important questions, such as the typical length of any soap-related effect.Provided this research continues to pan out, it could very well someday lead to the development of mosquito-proof soaps or other important applications.

“Research in this area could indeed lead to informing the cosmetic industry on particular combinations of chemicals that lead to soaps that are still pleasant to our nose, but repel mosquitoes,” Vinauger said. “Understanding the chemical rules behind these effects could also inform the design of baits to lure mosquitoes and trap them for control purposes.”

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