If you must, wear tights from your waist to your toes. Trousers with high socks and band at the ankles is a better choice. Which defeats the purpose of staying cool.
Researchers who studied mosquitoes biting behaviour for 20 days in a controlled environment found that female Anopheles mosquitoes — which can carry malaria parasites — prefer to bite the legs even if the rest of the body is exposed.
They didn't give an explanation but there is speculation that foot odour attracts them, so they go for feet and legs. Mosquitoes find their targets through environmental and host stimuli such as visual cues, moisture, heat, carbon dioxide and odours from skin emanations.
Males drink nectar, not blood, but they are still annoying.
“Successful transmission of mosquito-borne pathogens is mediated by the blood-feeding habits of female mosquitoes, which may express preferences for specific blood hosts,” researchers said.
The experiment by Kenyan and Tanzanian researchers focused on the behaviour of the Anopheles arabiensis and Aedes aegypti, the main culprits spreading malaria and dengue fever, respectively.
The results show wearing protective clothing can prevent 90 per cent of Anopheles mosquito bites during non-sleeping hours.
They confirm that once mosquitoes are near humans, they are very particular about where to bite and suck blood.
“Their actual landing sites and the resulting distribution of biting are evidently non-random, as some body parts receive more bites than others,” the scientists said.
The researchers include Peter Sangoro from the Nairobi-based International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology.
The rest are from Tanzania’s Ifakara Health Institute, from Brazil, and the United Kingdom.
They used laboratory-reared, four- to nine-day old Anopheles arabiensis, and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, and starved them for six hours prior to experimentation.
Observations were done for six hours starting 6am to midday for the day-biting Aedes aegypti and 6pm to midnight for the night-biting Anopheles arabiensis.
During each session, 100 sugar-starved female mosquitoes were released in each of the experimental cages, 50 mosquitoes at the beginning and another 50 after three hours.
The human volunteers tallied all observed mosquito landings by body part.
The observations were replicated for at least 20 days and 20 nights in different positions.
They included positions where the volunteers were in sleeping position wearing untreated sandals; in standing position and wearing untreated sandals; in a sleeping position and wearing treated sandals; and in a standing position and wearing treated sandals.
Results show 90 per cent of bites by Anopheles arabiensis, which transmit malaria, were in the lower limbs of standing volunteers but evenly distributed over all exposed body surfaces when the volunteers were in sleeping positions.
Aedes aegypti bites were slightly concentrated on lower limbs of standing volunteers (47.7 per cent below knees), but evenly distributed in sleeping volunteers.
“Wearing protective clothing that leave only hands and head uncovered could theoretically prevent 78 to 83 per cent of bites during sleeping, and at least 90 per cent of bites during non-sleeping hours,” the experts said.
Results of the study are published in the Plos One journal, in an article titled 'Observing the distribution of mosquito bites on humans to inform personal protection measures against malaria and dengue vectors'.
“High personal protection might be achieved by simply wearing long-sleeved clothing, though protection against Anopheles particularly requires covering of feet and lower legs,” the experts said.
Mosquitoes also spread yellow fever in Africa and Zika virus, not reported in Africa.
(Edited by V. Graham)
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