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07 May, 2011

Malaria Mosquitoes Accurately Find Their Way to Smelly Feet

ScienceDaily (May 6, 2011) — Malaria mosquitoes utilize CO2 from exhaled air to localize humans from afar. In the vicinity of their preferred host, they alter their course towards the human feet. Researcher Remco Suer discovered how female malaria mosquitoes use foot odors in the last meters to guide them to their favoured biting place. Suer, who is defending his doctoral thesis May 9 at Wageningen University, part of Wageningen UR, sees possibilities to disrupt the host seeking behaviour of the malaria mosquito.
This Anopheles gambiae mosquito is obtaining a blood meal as it feeds on a human host. (Credit: CDC/Jim Gathany)

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