Discovery Of Natural Odors Could Help Develop Mosquito Repellents

Entomologists at the University of California, Riverside working on **fruit flies** in the lab have discovered a novel class of compounds that could pave the way for developing inexpensive and safe **mosquito repellents** for combating **West Nile virus** and other deadly **tropical diseases**. "CO2 emitted in human breath is the main attractant for the **Culex mosquito** to find people, aiding the transmission of these deadly diseases," Ray said. "In our experiments we identified **hexanol**, and a related odor, butanal, as strong inhibitors of CO2-sensitive neurons in Culex mosquitoes. These compounds can now be used to guide research in developing novel repellents and masking agents that are economical and environmentally safe methods to block mosquitoes' ability to detect CO2 in our breath, thereby dramatically reducing mosquito-human contact." More "Sciencedaily":[ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090826152546.htm]

---