Mosquitoes are attracted to infected mammals

Scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich) and their colleagues combined analytical chemistry and behavioral assessment to study the relation between malaria-infected mammals and mosquitoes. They found that Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes were most attracted to malaria-infected mice when they were highly infectious. This demonstrates how the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium chabaudii manipulates its host by changing its odor profiles.  These findings can have significant implications for disease managing studies.

Read more in The Scientist.