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| Photo source- Scienceblogs |
Insects are 15 percent more likely to fly towards someone who has consumed beer. This is according to study conducted by a group of scientists at the IRD Research Centre in France.
In Their article posted in Plos One they went on to explain their findings.
''We used a Y tube-olfactometer designed to take advantage of the whole body odour (breath and skin emanations) as a stimulus to gauge human attractiveness to Anopheles gambiae (the primary African malaria vector) before and after volunteers consumed either beer (n = 25 volunteers and a total of 2500 mosquitoes tested) or water (n = 18 volunteers and a total of 1800 mosquitoes). Water consumption had no effect on human attractiveness to An. gambiae mosquitoes, but beer consumption increased volunteer attractiveness. Body odours of volunteers who consumed beer increased mosquito activation (proportion of mosquitoes engaging in take-off and up-wind flight) and orientation (proportion of mosquitoes flying towards volunteers' odours). The level of exhaled carbon dioxide and body temperature had no effect on human attractiveness to mosquitoes. Despite individual volunteer variation, beer consumption consistently increased attractiveness to mosquitoes;;.
They are hoping their research will help make people aware of the link between malaria, a disease that kill's hundreds worldwide every year and alcohol, and hopefully appropriate steps will be taken to design control measures.