HOUSTON – It’s that time of the year again. Pesky mosquitoes are coming out -- but not to play -- as the temperatures heat up. While many are grabbing repellants, others claim mosquitoes don’t even bite them at all.
Why is that?
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According to Virginia Tech researchers in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, certain soaps could make people more or less attractive to mosquitoes.
“Just by changing soap scents, someone who already attracts mosquitoes at a higher-than-average rate could further amplify or decrease that attraction,” said Clément Vinauger, an assistant professor of biochemistry and co-principal investigator on the proof-of-concept study.
His collaborator, Chloé Lahondère, is also an assistant professor of biochemistry.
Four volunteers studied the connection between soap and mosquitoes’ attractiveness. The research team looked in the unique scent profile of each person, unwashed and washed with each Dial, Dove, Native and Simple Truth soaps, the release stated.
According to Vinauger, more than 60% of what is smelled after washing comes from soap, rather than natural body odors.
“The other aspect is that it’s not simply adding stuff to our body odor, but it’s also replacing some chemicals while eliminating others, that are washed away,” Vinauger said. “So we think there is a lot of chemical interaction between our natural chemicals and soap chemicals.”
To test the interactions between smell, the researchers released mosquitoes in a meshed case that had two cups containing order extracts and gave them a choice, unwashed scents gathered from the persons along with their washed scents. These were gathered from a nylon sleeve on the forearms with the body in both washed and unwashed states.
The tests were repeated for the various combinations of scents.
“This way we can really measure and quantify the effect of the soap in terms of increasing or decreasing the attractiveness of the individual,” Vinauger said. “That’s where we found that not all soaps have the same effect on all volunteers.”
What were the results fragrance preferences?
Three of the four soaps increased mosquito attractiveness while one decreased. All of the soaps had a fruity or flowery scent. The one that decreased attractiveness was coconut scented, researchers said.
Research shows that using coconut-scented soaps could reduce attractiveness to mosquitoes.
“That was very interesting for us because there is other evidence in the literature that elevating certain fatty acids, such as those found in coconut oil derivatives, could serve as a repellant for mosquitoes and other insects,” Vinauger said.
Other possible factors
The teams plans to expand the research with additional people and soap varieties to get a clearer understanding of the implications.
“Trying different soaps is important because we are showing that it’s really the combination between your natural odor and a specific soap that matters,” Vinauger said. “We also need to study the duration of these effects. What if you shower in the morning? The evening? We need to answer these questions in our future work.”
Researchers said soap is only one part of the equation. Deodorants, laundry detergents, and other scented products could also play a factor.
The research on mosquito soap interactions was published on May 10, 2023, in iScience and was funded in part by the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.