From UC Riverside News
January 9, 2023
Mosquitoes spread several diseases, such as malaria and dengue. In 2020 about 241 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide, with a few more million cases occurring in 2021. Nearly half the world’s population lives in regions where contracting dengue virus is a risk. Insects also destroy a third of agriculture.
New research by scientists at the University of California, Riverside, has potential in insect control through volatile repellents that could be applied on surfaces such as windowsills, eaves of huts, house entryways, backyards, outside produce storage areas, entryways of livestock shelters, and next to crops in a field.
The researchers focused on ammonia, a basic volatile compound found in insect environments. At low concentrations, such as in human sweat, ammonia is an attractant for mosquitoes and other insects. At high concentrations, however, for example the concentrations found in household cleaners, ammonia is no longer attractive to insects. The researchers inquired into what happens to the olfactory (smell) system and gustatory (taste) system of fruit flies and mosquitoes in the presence of ammonia.