
Chicken odour repels malaria mosquitoes, research in Ethiopia finds - hanoz
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-36854781
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runeks
As I understand it, the issue is that, while it might repel them to begin
with, mosquitos evolve quite rapidly, and sooner or later they will learn to
ignore the repellent, and it will be ineffective. There are tons of substances
that mosquitos and insects find repelling. We have mapped the receptor in
mosquitos which, when activated, make them shy away from a substance. But if
it doesn't kill the mosquitos, or damage them, they will eventually learn that
it's unharmful, and it will no longer be effective.

[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v502/n7472/full/nature1...](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v502/n7472/full/nature12594.html)

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthranilate-
based_insect_re...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthranilate-
based_insect_repellents)

~~~
runeks
While looking for a different paper, which shows that mosquitos can adapt to
certain repellents, I discovered that the paper from above has been retracted:
[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/natu...](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature18613.html)

I will post a link to the other paper if I find it.

~~~
runeks
Here's the paper.

Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes Exhibit Decreased Repellency by DEET following
Previous Exposure:
[http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal....](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0054438)

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danblick
Poppycock. It is widely known that miasmas such as chicken odour are the
source of disease, not a cure. In fact even the name "malaria" means "bad air"
for this reason.

""" For when the morning breezes blow toward the town at sunrise, if they
bring with them mist from marshes and, mingled with the mist, the poisonous
breath of creatures of the marshes to be wafted into the bodies of the
inhabitants, they will make the site unhealthy. """

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miasma_theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miasma_theory)

~~~
sliverstorm
I actually really love miasma theory- as fundamentally incorrect as it is, it
gets a lot right.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
That and Lamarckian evolution. They're actually pretty good examples of early
science--they fit a lot of the facts as they were known at the time.

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kovrik
Bill Gates fights against malaria ([http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-
Do/Global-Health/Mala...](http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-
Health/Malaria)), then he says that he would raise chickens
([https://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Why-I-Would-Raise-
Chi...](https://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Why-I-Would-Raise-
Chickens))...he knew!

~~~
HillaryBriss
... that chickens are the only medicine strong enough to save humanity

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cowpewter
Are chickens a significant predator of mosquitoes or mosquito larvae? That
would make a lot of sense. Or maybe some other bird that chickens happen to
have a smell in common with.

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cronjobber
> the compounds from the smell of the chicken can be extracted and could work
> as a repellent

Might actually work as long as only a statistically insignificant minority of
ppl is using it. After that point, it's Darwin all over again.

~~~
taco_emoji
Only if "not being repelled by chicken smells" conferred a large enough
selective advantage over "being repelled by chicken smells". Mosquitoes have
plenty of other animals to bite besides humans, so it's not immediately
apparent that it would change selection pressures at all, much less to the
degree needed to push the population genotype in one direction or the other.

~~~
mrob
The most dangerous malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, does selectively
target humans. See:

[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.0269-283x.2002....](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.0269-283x.2002.00345.x/full)

~~~
swsieber
We just need to breed a bunch if genetically modified chickens that produce
L-lactic then, and we'll be set (if we use chicken odor as a repellant).

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calbear81
Missing a comma perhaps? I first misread it as chicken odor prevented
researchers from doing their job since it smelled so bad.

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zentiggr
With all due respect to the 'use the existing headline' convention, a minor
edit to this Yoda-style instance would dramatically decrease misunderstanding
of the article topic.

(While I enjoy hearing British English most of the time this commaless
reversing tends to drive me a little nuts.)

------
mrob
A better title would be "repels malaria mosquitoes".

~~~
dang
Every once in a while somebody aces the ever-popular genre of title complaint
by suggesting a better one. Thanks!

The rest of you may have a comma as well. :)

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mabbo
Mosquitoes would only avoid something if being near it made them less likely
to reproduce successfully. Seeing that, we've decided to surround ourselves
with those things.

This concerns me a little.

~~~
JshWright
Chickens are not known for their predation of humans...

~~~
trombone
That's what the chickens want you to think

