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Mosquitoes Beginning To Ignore DEET Repellent
Copper Nikus writes "An article at the BBC makes a shocking claim about mosquitoes. It appears some individual insects in the wild have developed the ability to ignore the very popular DEET repellent after a first exposure. From the article: 'To investigate why this might be happening, the researchers attached electrodes to the insects' antenna.
Dr Logan explained: "We were able to record the response of the receptors on the antenna to Deet, and what we found was the mosquitoes were no longer as sensitive to the chemical, so they weren't picking it up as well.
"There is something about being exposed to the chemical that first time that changes their olfactory system - changes their sense of smell - and their ability to smell Deet, which makes it less effective."'"
Yeah, it's called evolution.
Oh great, the next step is anyone with DEET gets swarmed by these little bastards. Think about it, once they learn it's not that bad, where else do they smell DEET but fresh blood sources?
I wish humanity was still subjected to evolutionary pressure, like these mosquitoes, that would drive gross human evolution. Right now, our species would no longer improve unless we use genetic engineering.
This only proves that the ways and will of God is ineffable. To even suggest it's evolution in action is blasphemy.
Any documented instance of mosquitoes ignoring DDT?
I will be the first one to bow down to our mosquito overlords.
John Quiggin and Tim Lambert have written that "the most striking feature of the claim against Carson is the ease with which it can be refuted." DDT was never banned for anti-malarial use,[85] (its ban for agricultural use in the United States in 1972 did not apply outside the US or to anti-malaria spraying;[86] the international treaty that banned most uses of DDT and other organochlorine pesticides — the 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants — included an exemption for DDT for the use of malaria control until affordable substitutes could be found.[79]) Mass outdoor spraying of DDT was abandoned in poor countries subject to malaria, such as Sri Lanka, in the 1970s and 1980s, not because of government prohibitions, but because the DDT had lost its ability to kill the mosquitoes.[79] (Because of insects very short breeding cycle and large number of offspring, the most resistant insects that survive and pass on their genetic traits to their offspring replace the pesticide-slain insects relatively rapidly. Agricultural spraying of pesticides produces resistance to the pesticide in seven to ten years.[87])
Then charge the mosquitoes a license fee to evolve.
That should stop them.
Sent from my ENIAC
By "school" he really meant "what Rush Limbaugh told me".
You know how it is... something becomes trendy or goes viral and then the hipsters are all like "that is so yesterday". Mosquitoes from Thailand started the "Ignore DEET, Just Say Phuket" meme after the press got all up in arms about how popular DEET has become with human partiers:
http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2012/09/phi-phi-home-to-deadly-cocktails/
http://phuketwan.com/tourism/phi-phis-killer-cocktail-buckets-time-health-officials-explain-death-riddle-16598/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/08/31/montreal-sisters-die-thailand-insecticide.html
http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2012/DEET-in-lethal-party-cocktail-killed-Canadian-sisters-Autopsy-16811.html
I deny that I have not avoided attaining the opposite of that which I do not want.
They serve a great purpose. Population control. Killing them off will mean either further out of control population growth in poor countries or something worse coming along to replace them. It is very short-sighted to think you can wipe out a whole species without causing unforseen, and usually negative, side effects.
DDT is still used regularly in the 2nd and 3rd world.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Their larvae are a food source to many aquatic animals.
The original article was insightful, it enlightened us to a new evolution taking place. This is just a snarky restatement without any added, and in fact far less, information.
The article straight off says mosquitoes are evolving, and talks about the research as to in the mechanism that is changing.
I am truly "shock[ed]", no one could of ever predicted this completely unique adaptation.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
Careful, we don't want any actual facts to get in the way of spittle flecked rant.
That's what birth control is for.
You mean the stuff widely demonized throughout Africa?
The elapsed time has allowed for countless microorganism generations and nothing worse has replaced smallpox yet.
Ignoring things like HIV? Funny, because some research shows that the eradication of smallpox may have helped bring about the current HIV pandemic.
Maybe but maybe not. And if those creatures die off too it will continue to ripple. This is why your idea is majorly naive and short-sighted.
There's a device I've used with some success that works ONLY against bloodsuckers. It's called a "Mosquito Magnet".
Mosquitoes are attracted to things with blood. They apparently track their food by warmth, exhaled carbon dioxide, and a few other chemicals. This devices emits warmth, carbon dioxide and a few other chemicals in an attractant. The device is quite sensitive though. I've placed a battery driven model outside, under a small wooden table, to protect it from the elements. It definitely captures mosquitoes but sometimes it makes a difference, sometimes it doesn't. Mine is 5 years old. Last year it was... eh. Not as dramatic as year 1. I need to get it serviced this year I suppose.
Anyhoo, focusing on something like the mosquito's natural drives to attract them to a trap might be the Next Big Thing. Note that bug zappers don't attract mosquitos.
In the West, where we have so much food available 24/7 that the #1 problem is being fat, we have fertility rates that are at or just below replacement.
In parts of Africa where famine/starvation are endemic, population growth continues to consume all advances in GDP and prevent escape from poverty.
How, in light of these two well-known facts, can anyone still believe Malthus' "any improvement in living standards will just result in more poors consuming it all" bullshit?
The People for the Eating of Tastey Animals oppose DEET because it makes mosquitos taste funny when fried in lard.
"The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now?"
Don't use the same chemicals too often as small insects adapt to it quite fast. Just ask weed growers how well their toxic miticides don't work on spider mites anymore. I bet the weed you're smoking has Avid, Floramite, Monitor, Forbid or othe rnasties on it as some are resorting to using them at WAY more potent mixes and past the residual time of the chemical.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
When i walked home from work the other day, I didn't notice a single mosquito.
My conclusion is that they don't like certain environmental factors.
The temperature was about 242 Kelvin
So if we can keep the place cool, we won't have to worry.
...... is still not understood by most. And I think we are stuck in an odd place here.
Insects evolution is faster than animals like dodos. We can't walk around beating them with a club till they go extinct. Mosquito nets used to be the most effective form of protection, until now. The mosquitoes are getting smaller. And adapting to chemicals is an inevitability. Too many of them reproducing at very high rates. Making them infertile seems to be best way around this all.
But more importantly, we still have absolutely no clue what role the mosquitoes play in ecological niches. Will their extinction lead to irreversible changes that affect the very fabric of nature? Humans vs. mosquitoes - who is more important to nature. Does anyone want to answer that question? Does the increase in human population directly correlate with the increase in mosquito population? We are their food after-all ....
As someone with the pleasure of living near mangroves (Brisbane Australia) I can attest to the relatively ineffective deterrence offered by common DEET-based repellents (
Patent litigation: A doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction... in which everyone seems willing to push the button
We should be introducing infertile mosquitos into the wild.
If we could evolve mosquitos to be infertile, then we could release them into the wild, where they would breed with other wild mosquitos. After a few dozen generations, most mosquitos would be infertile. Problem solved!
Why is it only me that can figure this stuff out?
Nature is more intelligent than US Republicans, it doesn't ignore Darwin's findings ;)
Advice for tourists to the Amazon:
"Rio Negro is an area that is great for the jungle vegetation and for the lack of mosquitoes (due to the acidity of the river). Unfortunately, the lack of mosquitoes means there are a lot fewer animals that live there."
Source
The parts of the world with accurate warning labels don't have growing populations.
We're aggressively selecting for traits which resist birth control.
Just so we're clear here, you're saying that people dying horrible deaths is a good thing? This is beyond misanthropic and all the way into psychotic.
The mosquito would not be missed. http://www.theweek.co.uk/politics/12525/mosquito-creature-won%E2%80%99t-be-missed
I say we control the population of rich countries instead. All they do is consume the world's resources disproportionately, so killing one of them is much more efficient than killing someone from a poor country.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I wasn't aware mosquitoes EVER responded to repellent, DEET or otherwise.
Their larvae are a food source to many aquatic animals.
Nature (the journal) had an article about mosquitoes being a species that are not indispensible - i.e. if all mosquitoes were exterminated, things would continue more or less unchanged.
Problem is, we will never get rid of them. Ever.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
I spent a couple of years in Maine recently and I can tell you DEET mostly just pissed them off. I grew up in Michigan and I've had a lot of experience over the years with Mosquitoes. The ones in Maine are more aggressive. If you walked in the woods with DEET on it was like wearing a coat of mosquitoes. They didn't like lighting but some did. I think it was akin to having Mace sprayed in your eyes while you ate. If you're hungry enough you tough it out. I can tell you black flies thought DEET was Channel #5. For mosquitpes try catnip oil. It's a nontoxic irritant although you may have to pry the neighborhood cats off you.
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While mosquitoes are evolving to be smarter, humans keep spreading carcinogens on them to avoid a little itch.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
Mosquito breeding cycles are far shorter than those of Homo sapiens. They've had since 1957 to evolve to ignore DEET.