A study suggests that
children with malaria emit a specific odour that attracts more malaria mosquitoes.
The malaria parasites in children enhance the production of specific smells that are emitted through the skin.
These findings, published in the authoritative PNAS journal, are the result of a study led by researchers from Wageningen University & Research in collaboration with: the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Kenya, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Cardiff University and Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands.
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“Our study advances earlier research that showed that children carrying the malaria parasite, Plasmodium, are more attractive to malaria mosquitoes than their healthy counterparts. We aimed to identify the mechanisms of this increased attraction,” Icipe scientist, Dr Dan Masiga said.
The research shows that the amount of some specific odour compounds in children infected with malaria is much higher than in malaria-free children.
The researchers precisely determined the nature and concentrations of these compounds, and found heptanal, octanal and nonanal, which are known as aldehydes in chemistry, to be emitted at higher levels by children with malaria.
“Although fairly common, Aldehydes which are described as fruity or grassy are very attractive to malaria mosquitoes," Wageningen researcher Jetske de Boer says.
The proportion of aldehydes appears to increase from about 15 per cent of the total odour bouquet to almost 23per cent .
Furthermore, the higher the density of parasites in the blood, the more of the three aldehydes are emitted.
“We found that children with malaria are about two times more attractive to malaria mosquitoes than their malaria-free counterparts. We also investigated further to determine whether body odour is responsible for the increased attraction. We concluded that Plasmodium parasites manipulate body odours of malaria-infected humans, increasing their attractiveness to malaria vectors,” Annette Busula, a former icipe PhD scholar who was involved in the study as part of her research said.
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The recent findings provide opportunities to combat malaria, by creating opportunities to intervene in the diseases transmission chain.
For example, the knowledge can be used to improve odour-baited mosquito traps using the identified attractants.
Moreover, the compounds can serve as biomarkers to develop faster and more child-friendly diagnostic tools that will not require blood samples.