Scientists may have found a way to fight mosquito-born illnesses using stinky feet, reported CTV News.
Researchers discovered mosquitoes infected with tropical diseases such as malaria tended to be more attracted to human body odor, specifically smelly socks. The infected insects were three times more likely to be drawn to the socks than the non-infected.
Researchers believe the information could be used to trap mosquitoes carrying the disease.
The studies were published in the journal PLoS One.
"Smelly feet have a use after all," said Dr. James Logan, who led the research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. "Every time we identify a new part of how the malaria mosquito interacts with us, we're one step closer to controlling it better."
Malaria kills about 600,000 people every year, it's most prevalent in Africa and causes many fatalities in children. Infected mosquitoes are believed to make up about one percent of the species' population.
For decades the malaria problem has been dealt with by attempting to catch as many mosquitoes as possible using traps, or keeping them away using mosquito nets.
Researchers believe having the ability to target malaria infected mosquitoes will make a huge difference. Targeting only the carrying mosquitoes would make it less likely that they would develop a resistance to the scent and would make it harder for them to avoid traps based on their sense of smell.
"The only way mosquitoes could [develop resistance] is if they were less attracted to human odors," said Andrew Read, a professor of biology and entomology at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not part the research team. "And if they did that and started feeding on something else -- like cows -- that would be fine."
Logan claimed that the next step will be to identify the attractive chemicals in human foot odor so that it can be replicated synthetically to be used in traps. The problem is that mosquitoes have a very sensitive sense of smell, and will not be easily fooled.
"At the moment, we only have these glimpses of how parasites are manipulating the mosquitoes," said George Christophides, chair of infectious disease and immunity at Imperial College London. "We need to exploit that information to help us control malaria."