Mosquitoes can learn to associate the smell of the world's most common insect repellent with a tasty meal and after training can even prefer to bite people who have been sprayed with it, an experimental study said Thursday.
The surprising results, which were conducted "under very specific conditions" in the lab, do not "call into question the effectiveness" of the repellent DEET, lead study author Claudio Lazzari told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Since being developed in the 1940s in the U.S., the chemical compound has saved many lives from the scourge of insect bites.
"It is the absolute gold standard for repellents, used by the World Health Organization to combat the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases," emphasized Lazzari, professor emeritus at the Insect Biology Research Institute at France's University of Tours.
However, the world also needs to find new, more effective, environmentally friendly repellents that cause fewer allergies, he added.
