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Malaria parasite may trigger human odor to lure mosquitoes

FILE - In this Wednesday, June 3, 2009 file photo, adult mosquitoes are seen through a fluorescence microscope at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute's Insect Transformation Facility in Rockville, Md.. Scientists may have figured out one reason why people infected with malaria are so tempting to mosquitoes who bite them and then spread the disease to others: odor. Researchers at Stockholm University released hundreds of mosquitoes into a Y-shaped tube that offered them two choices: human blood with a cellular substance found in malaria-infected people or regular human blood; the compound has a particular scent discernible only to mosquitoes that apparently makes it more enticing. About 95 percent of the mosquitoes dove straight into the blood with the malaria molecule. The study was published online Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017 in the journal, Science. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, file) FILE - In this Wednesday, June 3, 2009 file photo, adult mosquitoes are seen through a fluorescence microscope at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute's Insect Transformation Facility in Rockville, Md.. Scientists may have figured out one reason why people infected with malaria are so tempting to mosquitoes who bite them and then spread the disease to others: odor. Researchers at Stockholm University released hundreds of mosquitoes into a Y-shaped tube that offered them two choices: human blood with a cellular substance found in malaria-infected people or regular human blood; the compound has a particular scent discernible only to mosquitoes that apparently makes it more enticing. About 95 percent of the mosquitoes dove straight into the blood with the malaria molecule. The study was published online Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017 in the journal, Science. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, file)

By Associated Press February 9, 2017 1 min read

LONDON (AP) – Scientists may have figured out part of the reason why mosquitoes are drawn to people infected with malaria: odor.

Swedish researchers say they’ve identified a substance pumped out by malaria parasites that triggers that distinctive smell, noticeable only to mosquitoes. The study from Stockholm University was published Thursday by the journal Science.

Malaria is caused by parasite that’s spread by mosquitoes. A mosquito bites someone who’s already infected, then passes the parasites to the next person it bites. The illness kills about 429,000 people every year, mostly children in Africa.

Alvaro Acosta Serrano, a parasite researcher at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, said it might be possible to make synthetic versions of the mosquito-attracting fragrance to lure and then wipe out the insects.