ScienceDaily (Dec. 29, 2011) — The microbes on your skin determine how attractive you are to mosquitoes, which may have important implications for malaria transmission and prevention, according to a study published Dec. 28 in the online journal PLoS ONE.

Without bacteria, human sweat is odorless to the human nose, so the microbial communities on the skin play a key role in producing each individual's specific body odor.

The researchers, led by Niels Verhulst of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, conducted their experiments with the Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto mosquito, which plays an important role in malaria transmission. They found that individuals with a higher abundance but lower diversity of bacteria on their skin were more attractive to this particular mosquito. They speculate individuals with more diverse skin microbiota may host a selective group of bacteria that emits compounds to interfere with the normal attraction of mosquitoes to their human hosts, making these individuals less attractive, and thereforelower risk to contracting malaria.

This finding may lead to the development of personalized methods for malaria prevention.

Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:

Other bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Public Library of Science.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

1. Niels O. Verhulst, Yu Tong Qiu, Hans Beijleveld, Chris Maliepaard, Dan Knights, Stefan Schulz, Donna Berg-Lyons, Christian L. Lauber, Willem Verduijn, Geert W. Haasnoot, Roland Mumm, Harro J. Bouwmeester, Frans H. J. Claas, Marcel Dicke, Joop J. A. van Loon, Willem Takken, Rob Knight, Renate C. Smallegange. Composition of Human Skin Microbiota Affects Attractiveness to Malaria Mosquitoes. PLoS ONE, 2011; 6 (12): e28991 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0028991

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Related Stories

Bacteria Play Role In Preventing Spread Of Malaria (May 10, 2009) — Bacteria in the gut of the Anopheles gambiae mosquito inhibit infection of the insect with Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria in humans, according to new research. Scientists ...  > read more

Malaria Mosquitoes Accurately Find Their Way to Smelly Feet (May 6, 2011) — Malaria mosquitoes utilize carbon dioxide from exhaled air to localize humans from afar. In the vicinity of their preferred host, they alter their course towards the human feet. Researchers ...  > read more

Malaria-Resistant Mosquitoes Thrive In Lab (Mar. 22, 2007) — Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute (JHMRI) determined that genetically-engineered malaria-resistant mosquitoes fared better than their natural counterparts when fed ...  > read more

Letting There Be More Mosquitoes May Lead to Fewer Malaria Deaths, Say Researchers (Apr. 11, 2011) — It may seem counter-intuitive at first but letting mosquitoes grow up and breed may be part of the solution to tackling the devastating impact of malaria. Researchers have used mathematical modeling ...  > read more

Search ScienceDaily