Nelson Smith

Attractiveness of men and women to Aedes aegypti and relative protection time obtained with deet.

Tests were conducted with 100 men and women subjects to compare their attractiveness to the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti (L.), and in addition to compare the times of protection against the mosquito when the same group of subjects was treated with deet. In previous experiments reported by Smith et al. (1963), Gouck and Bowman (1959), and Gouck and Gilbert (1962), only three to five test subjects were used. Our tests, however, were conducted with 50 subjects of each sex. Such factors as sex, age, weight, skin temperature, moisture output, and color were investigated to determine their influence on both attractiveness and protection time. Statistical significance of the values obtained was determined for the differences among individuals of the group and for the differences between men and women. In addition 37 women with menstrual cycles were tested before and after menses to determine the effects of physiological changes on the attractiveness of the subjects to the mosquito.

The attraction of female mosquitoes (Anopheles quadrimaculatus Say) to stored human emanations in conjunction with adjusted levels of relative humidity, temperature, and carbon dioxide

An apparatus has been assembled which permits storage and injection, at the same flow rate, of air containing human emanations into one port and air containing no emanations into the other port of a dual-port olfactometer, while monitoring the two flows for differences in temperature, relative humidity, and carbon dioxide level. Results of bioassays so conducted have led us to conclude that female mosquitoes (Anopheles quadrimaculatus Say) are attracted in significant numbers primarily by chemical emanations other than carbon dioxide and water.