Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Stinky Feet Lead the Way in Mosquito Research

Summer is here! The blissful summer nights full of beaches, camp fires, smores, camping, and bugs!!! Nothing ruins a beautiful night better than a swarm of mosquitoes or the multitude of off smelling mosquito repellants. We have all been bitten by a mosquito in almost every place imaginable. Don’t you dare walk through long grass after dark in flip flops! Your feet will look like a teenage boy’s face before proactive! . Now the world of mosquito research is turning to feet to find the answers to keep these bugs away from our leisure activities. New research is developing and scientists are discovering that many mosquito species actually prefer the foot! Daniel Kline was one of the first to focus on the mosquito and feet and found that many females preferred dirty 3 day-old-socks!

There are a million mosquito tales we take to the outdoors with us. We know that they are heat seekers and the warmer we are the hotter the target. Don’t wear anything sweet smelling, don’t eat bananas, avoid lactic acid products, avoid beer and stinky cheese, spray doorways with Listerine, and now you should wash your feet and change your socks! There is a multitude of bacteria that live on the human body and produces odors. These odors are attractants or signals that help guide mosquitoes to their prey. The stinkier you are, the more you attract! For some of us, stinky feet are just a part of who we are. Your Hygiene may be pristine but for some reason you can’t knock that stink off your socks and shoes!!! For those of us with the stink on, is there anything we can do to curve the mosquitoes away?

The odor we all smell and dread is actually coming from bacteria. Bacteria love warm, moist, dark places. A sweaty shoe is paradise. The best way to fight the bacteria is to fight the sweat. There are a number of anti-perspirants available for the feet. Socks can also make a big difference in foot odor. 100% cotton is not recommended. You should look for a sock that has a combination of materials. Cotton absorbs sweat fast, but it also dries very slow and you will stay saturated and stinky longer.

Stinky feet are just another attractant to those vampire bugs and I am beginning to think they are attracted to EVERYTHING! If you do venture out, the best way to stay bitten free and feet happy is too stay covered. As much as we want to show off our sassy toes, it is best to cover the feet up on the cool nights and avoid the mosquito bite. Diabetics should be extra careful because a bite leads to scratching, scratching leads to abrasions, and abrasions lead to sites at risk for an infection. If you do get bit, use anti-itch cream or topical steroids to help you avoid the itch to scratch!

1 comment:

AveBarnett said...

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic.
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