Body wash attracts mosquitoes

A recent study conducted by researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University has found that certain body washes may make individuals more attractive to mosquitoes. The study focused on the scents of four brands of body washes, Dial, Dove, Native, and Simple Truth, and their effects on the attractiveness of participants to female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. The researchers found that the Simple Truth body wash increased the attractiveness of all participants, followed by Dove, and then Dial. In contrast, the mosquitoes tended to avoid the strips washed in the Native body wash. The study's chemical analysis suggests that the compounds benzaldehyde, benzyl benzoate, and γ-nonalactone may repel mosquitoes. The researchers are planning to repeat their study with a larger group of participants and more body washes to investigate how long the effects last. The findings suggest that the fragrances in personal care products may disrupt the specific ratio of human emissions that attract mosquitoes and may lead to the development of user-friendly mosquito repellents to mitigate the transmission of vector-borne diseases. The study's authors also emphasized the importance of understanding the interaction between specific soap chemicals and individual body odors in determining mosquito attraction or repulsion.