630 - Why Are Some Humans' Scents More Preferable to Mosquitoes?
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 28 June 2023
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Mosquitoes are excellent hunters. Anopheles gambiae—the mosquito in sub-Saharan Africa that spreads malaria—in particular loves to feast on humans and, it turns out, relies heavily on peoples' scent to track them. Hopkins researcher Conor McMeniman talks with Stephanie Desmon about his team's new study looking at the molecular components of human scent that are most attractive to mosquitoes, and how learning more about these alluring scent signatures could help in the fight against malaria.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:05.9 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:16.3 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jh. |
| 0:21.6 | Jh.edu. |
| 0:23.8 | That's public health question at jh.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:30.6 | This is Lindsay Smith Rogers. |
| 0:32.8 | What do a mosquito's sense of smell and the transmission of malaria have in common? |
| 0:38.7 | Today, Stephanie Desmond talks to Dr. Connor McMediman of the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute |
| 0:44.0 | about his fascinating research into why some of us are more attractive to mosquitoes |
| 0:48.7 | and how a greater understanding of the mosquito olfactory system may save lives. Let's listen. |
| 0:57.0 | Connor McMedaman, thanks so much for joining me. Thanks for having me, Stephanie. |
| 1:01.7 | Today I want to talk to you about mosquitoes. We know that some of us are tastier than others to |
| 1:07.7 | mosquitoes, and there's been all kinds of speculation about what causes that. |
| 1:13.5 | And I'm wondering if you could sort of start by telling us, you know, what have some of the |
| 1:16.5 | theory's been and what have you now found? |
| 1:19.6 | Yeah, absolutely. |
| 1:20.4 | So for possibly millennia, humans have been asking the question of why some humans might be more attracted |
| 1:30.3 | to mosquitoes than others. |
| 1:32.3 | A number of different anecdotes sort of get flown around during our daily conversations |
| 1:37.3 | and backyard barbecues and also hikes. |
| 1:40.3 | These include theories such as my blood is sweeter than in others, a blood, for instance. |
| 1:48.2 | I might have better tasting skin than another person. Also, maybe how attractive I am to |
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