PLOS One：利用脚臭味消灭传播疟疾的蚊子

长期以来，人们都是以杀虫剂、蚊帐或药物来对抗疟疾。如今科学家发现了一种抗疟疾的有效新武器——脚臭味。

疟疾是由疟原虫引起的，疟原虫会寄生于蚊子体内，人类只要被带有疟原虫的蚊子叮咬，就会感染疟原虫，因而患上疟疾。根据最新一期医学杂志PLoS One报道，伦敦卫生与热带医学学院的研究人员发现，臭袜子对带有疟原虫的蚊子具有很大吸引力，其受吸引的程度是不带疟原虫的蚊子的3倍。

研究人员认为，这个新发现有助于研发新型灭蚊器，专门对付带有疟原虫的蚊子，只要利用散发刺鼻臭脚味的陷阱引诱蚊子，就能把它们一网打尽。

研究人员表示，原来臭脚并非一无是处……每当我们对传播疟疾的蚊子有新的习性了解,就能更进一步地防控它们。

疟疾虽然有药可医，但若发现太晚就会引发贫血、肝功能受损、肾衰竭等并发症，导致昏迷死亡。据估计，疟疾每年在全球夺走至少60万人的性命，其中大多数为非洲儿童。

其实专家早就知道蚊子会被人体味道所吸引，只是不清楚感染了疟原虫的蚊子是否更容易被吸引。科学家指出，采用专门的灭蚊器对付带有疟原虫的蚊子，可减低蚊子对杀虫剂产生抵抗力。

研究人员表示，下一步是确认臭脚味中的化学物质，以便在灭蚊器加入这些物质，不过由于蚊子的嗅觉高度灵敏，要得出精准的方程式非常具有挑战性。其实一些气味难闻的奶酪，味道就犹如臭脚味，但蚊子并不会被这些奶酪味所吸引，因为它们已进化至能辨别其中的细微差异。

Malaria Infected Mosquitoes Express Enhanced Attraction to Human Odor
Abstract
There is much evidence that some pathogens manipulate the behaviour of their mosquito hosts to enhance pathogen transmission. However, it is unknown whether this phenomenon exists in the interaction of Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto with the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum - one of the most important interactions in the context of humanity, with malaria causing over 200 million human cases and over 770 thousand deaths each year. Here we demonstrate, for the first time, that infection with P. falciparum causes alterations in behavioural responses to host-derived olfactory stimuli in host-seeking female An. gambiae s.s. mosquitoes. In behavioural experiments we showed that P. falciparum-infected An. gambiae mosquitoes were significantly more attracted to human odors than uninfected mosquitoes. Both P. falciparum-infected and uninfected mosquitoes landed significantly more on a substrate emanating human skin odor compared to a clean substrate. However, significantly more infected mosquitoes landed and probed on a substrate emanating human skin odor than uninfected mosquitoes. This is the first demonstration of a change of An. gambiae behaviour in response to olfactory stimuli caused by infection with P. falciparum. The results of our study provide vital information that could be used to provide better predictions of how malaria is transmitted from human being to human being by An. gambiae s.s. females. Additionally, it highlights the urgent need to investigate this interaction further to determine the olfactory mechanisms that underlie the differential behavioural responses. In doing so, new attractive compounds could be identified which could be used to develop improved mosquito traps for surveillance or trapping programmes that may even specifically target P. falciparum-infected An. gambiae s.s. females.