Free Republic

After this weekend's barbeques and fireworks displays, you might wonder why some people wind up covered in mosquito welts and others are bite-free. It's not a coincidence. Each person's individual body chemistry determines how many mosquitoes will come calling. According to Joe Conlon, a medical entomologist who advises the American Mosquito Control Association, the insects can detect their targets from nearly 100 feet away. But what are they seeking? Mostly the scent of carbon dioxide and lactic acid, two compounds that indicate to the hematophagous — or blood-sucking — pests that their next landing pad is nearby. (It's worth noting...

NEW YORK (AP) -- A wall-mounted gadget designed to drive away loiterers with a shrill, piercing noise audible only to teens and young adults is infuriating civil liberties groups and tormenting young people after being introduced into the United States. Almost 1,000 units of the device, called the Mosquito, have been sold in the United States and Canada after the product debuted last year, according to Daniel Santell, the North America importer of the device sold under the company name Kids Be Gone. The high-frequency sound has been likened to fingernails dragged across a chalkboard or a pesky mosquito buzzing...

February 12, 2008 Kids' commissioner calls for ban on Mosquito, ultrasonic anti-teen device (Compound Security Systems/PA) The Mosquito has a 20-minute cut-off to prevent shopowners leaving it on all night Philippe Naughton Under 25? Listen here | Over-25s, listen here The creators of a pioneering device that uses high-frequency sound to stop teenagers congregating outside shops, schools and railway stations reacted angrily today to news that the government-appointed Children's Commissioner wants to see it banned. The £500 Mosquito device has been installed at some 3,500 locations across the country since it first went on sale in January 2006. It emits...

Why some people are prone to mosquito bites By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent > Last Updated: 7:01pm BST 30/08/2007 Scientists have worked out why mosquitoes make a beeline for certain people but appear to leave others almost untouched. Specific cells in one of the three organs that make up the mosquito’s nose are tuned to identify the different chemicals that make up human body odour. To the mosquito some people’s sweat simply smells better than others because of the proportions of the carbon dioxide, octenol and other compounds that make up body odour. It is those people who are most...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mosquitoes that carry malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever avoid homes that have been sprayed with DDT, researchers reported on Wednesday. The chemical not only repels the disease-carrying insects physically, but its irritant and toxic properties helps keep them away, the researchers reported in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE. They estimate that DDT spray reduced the risk of disease transmission by nearly three-quarters. Malaria affects more 40 percent of the world's population, killing more than a million people every year, most of them young children. DDT use has been discontinued in most countries because...

KAMPALA, Uganda -- Though Africa's sad experience with colonialism ended in the 1960s, a lethal vestige remains: malaria. It is the biggest killer of Ugandan and all African children. Yet it remains preventable and curable. Last week in Germany, G-8 leaders committed new resources to the fight against the mosquito-borne disease and promised to use every available tool. Now they must honor this promise by supporting African independence in the realm of disease control. We must be able to use Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane -- DDT. The United States and Europe eradicated malaria by 1960, with the use of DDT. At the time,...

A genetically modified mosquito is a good mosquito. But there are cavemen among us who seem to live to thwart technological advances, and they may prefer the old disease-spreading pests that have plagued mankind since the beginning. As far-fetched as it might sound, scientists at Imperial College London have created genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes. But these scientists are not as mad as they might seem. They plan to release the mosquitoes with the hope they will wipe out natural mosquito populations in regions where deadly malaria rages or people are plagued by dengue fever and other mosquito-borne diseases. Here’s how...

Welsh inventor's 'mosquito' makes noisy teens buzz off A Welsh inventor claims to have found the perfect solution to rowdy youngsters: noise. Howard Stapleton says his device, the "mosquito", emits an uncomfortable high-pitched ultrasonic sound that can be heard by children and teenagers, but almost no one over 30. It has successfully driven away noisy teens from a grocery store in the Welsh town of Barry and a shop in Stapleton's home town Merthyr Tydfil, making smoking, lounging and foul-mouthed youths a thing of the past.

- Plan to breed and sterilise millions of male insects - Leader says project almost ready for testing in wild Genetically modified mosquitoes could soon be released into the wild in an attempt to combat malaria. Scientists at Imperial College London, who created the GM insects, say they could wipe out natural mosquito populations and save thousands of lives in malaria-stricken regions. Led by Andrea Crisanti, the team added a gene that makes the testicles of the male mosquitoes fluorescent, allowing the scientists to distinguish and easily separate them from females. The plan is to breed, sterilise and release millions...

I just put a deck and spa in our backyard, and I am looking at various methods of controlling the mosquitos in the yard. A quick Google search on mosquito control yields many types of systems. Do any Freepers have any experience with these types of systems? Soliciting any input....

County Takes West Nile Fight To The Air Aerial Spraying Over Sacramento To Begin Monday Night POSTED: 6:56 am PDT August 8, 2005 UPDATED: 6:44 pm PDT August 8, 2005 SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Sacramento Vector Control officials Monday will begin aerial spraying over a large part of Sacramento County in an effort to fight mosquitoes and the West Nile virus. A 71,000-acre area from Interstate 5 to Citrus Heights will be sprayed beginning at 8 p.m. The spraying is expected to last until midnight. The pesticide that will be sprayed is a pyrethins, derived from chrysanthemums. It is the same...

Today marks the 60th Anniversary of the legendary low-level attack by Mosquitoes of 140 Wing on the Gestapo HQ at Shell House, Copenhagen Denmark. Escorting the 20 Mossies were 28 Mustangs from 64, 126 and 234 Squadrons. Remembrance services were held today in Copenhagen, wreaths were laid at the Shell building for the 9 aircrew members lost and the 8 Danish Resistance men that died as a direct result of the attack. In attendence were members of the Mosquito Aircrew Association and the Danish Resistance. Later wreaths were laid at the Jeanne D'Arc School monument in Frederiksberg which was accidentally...

West Nile Is Blamed on Hybrid Mosquito Mar 5, 2004 By PAUL RECER / AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- Human infection by West Nile virus may be more common in North America than in Europe because of a hybrid mosquito that bites both birds and humans, carrying the virus from one to the other. European mosquito species tend to bite either birds or humans, but not both, a researcher says. A genetic study of the Culex pipiens mosquito in 33 locations in Europe has found that there are two different forms of the same species with different behaviors. One...

A man plagued by mosquitoes in India's Andhra Pradesh state is demanding compensation from the council in his insect-infested town. K Srihari Rao says too little has been done to protect him from mosquitoes - and if the council doesn't pay up he's itching to sue. "Me and my family are suffering a lot because of the mosquitoes. We cannot sleep at night and we have had to undergo anti-malarial treatment," he says. Mr Rao is testing a recent ruling by the High Court in Delhi, which said eradicating mosquitoes was the duty of civic bodies. 'Impossible to prove' Perhaps...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

Did mosquito bite defeat Alexander?Virus: An epidemiologist believes dying ravens are a sign that West Nile killed the Greek emperor. By Heather Dewar Sun Staff Originally published December 13, 2003 When Alexander the Great stood at the gates of Babylon in 323 B.C., the story goes, a flight of ravens fell dead at his feet. It was a bad omen, according to the soothsayers. Within two weeks the conqueror of an empire that stretched from Greece to India was dead, at age 32, of a mysterious illness. Doctors and historians have speculated for centuries about the cause of this battle-hardened...

Microscopic crablike creatures with a voracious appetite for swimming larvae may soon become the newest weapon in the war on mosquitoes. A University of Florida researcher believes the tiny crustaceans have big potential for helping control buzzing hordes that have become a serious health threat with the spread of West Nile virus, malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases. ''They'll pretty much kill any mosquito larvae they see,'' said Jorge Rey, a professor at the University of Florida's Medical Entomology Laboratory in Vero Beach. Rey hopes the organisms called copepods, common in Florida waters, will bolster the growing arsenal of what scientists...

Scientists are Watching the Super Mosquito By Nick Smith With the threat of West Nile Virus already hanging over our state, there's a new danger lurking in North Carolina. It's a new breed of bloodsuckers, and some are calling it a super mosquito. The worst thing about this breed is it's adding danger to the daylight hours. "The scientific name is Ochlerotatus japonicas." Otherwise known as a mosquito, and it has the potential to be deadly. Dr. Barry Engber, is a entomologist busy fielding calls and answering questions about this super mosquito and ways to defeat it. "We know...

  FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETINTerror link to West Nile?Saddam, Castro suspect in spread of mosquito-transmitted disease Posted: August 11, 20031:00 a.m. Eastern Editor's note: Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin is an online, subscription intelligence news service from the creator of WorldNetDaily.com – a journalist who has been developing sources around the world for the last 25 years.© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com While some Americans are still suspicious about claims that Saddam Hussein had an active chemical and biological weapons program, others believe he unleashed that program on the U.S. in the form of West Nile Virus – now spreading across the U.S. faster than...

West Nile detected in Livingston County mosquitos The Associated Press 7/15/2003, 2:28 p.m. ET HOWELL, Mich. (AP) — Three mosquitos trapped in residential areas of Livingston County have tested positive for West Nile virus, according to results from Michigan State University. The results were announced Monday by the county Department of Public Health. The mosquitos were found in traps in Howell as well as Brighton and Marion townships. "These positive test results confirm the presence of West Nile virus in Livingston County," the department said. "However, this does not indicate that (the virus) is present in only these three areas....

Man sets fire to own house trying tackle mosquitoes A Brazilian man accidentally set his own house on fire while trying to get rid of a swarm of mosquitoes. Rogerio Assis Cavalcante, from Dourados, told Terra Noticias Populares that he thought lighting a small fire would make the mosquitoes leave. He lit a sheet of paper to scare off the insects, but the flames quickly spread and worried neighbours called the fire brigade. A fire brigade spokesman said: "The fire he made took over the room he was in and then the whole house. "When we took him out he...

West Nile was worse than thought April 1, 2003 BY JIM RITTER HEALTH REPORTER The mosquito-borne West Nile virus hit harder than previously believed, with more than half of hospitalized patients suffering serious nerve damage, a new study has found. Fifty-four percent of patients admitted to three Chicago hospitals last year suffered from symptoms including vision loss, paralysis of more than half the body, muscle weakness, abnormally slow movement, numbness and an unstable walk, the study released Monday found--symptoms similar to those of Parkinson's disease, stroke, polio and other diseases that damage nerves. "It was worse than what I was...

Just like gentlemen, mosquitoes sometimes prefer blondes. Oh, we can pay lip service to Thomas Jefferson's promise that we're all created equal. But, as you gather around the barbecue, face it. Some of us just get more attention. And in that regard, being blonde doesn't hurt. Or does it? Professor Andrew Spielman, co-author of Mosquito (Hyperion) and one of the world's foremost experts on mosquitoes and the diseases they carry, says blondes and redheads might be more attractive to skeeters, for the same reason they tend turn heads at cocktail parties. That is, they stand out in a crowd. "Mosquitoes...