
To Stop Mosquito Bites, Silence Your Skin's Bacteria - vmarsy
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/stop-mosquito-bites-silence-your-skins-bacteria-180955772/?no-ist
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lucb1e
TL;DR: Nothing you can do yourself yet. As for what the researchers actually
did, this is near the bottom of the article:

> The team placed [dummy targets] inside transparent plastic cages containing
> 50 mosquitoes and left them in the cages for 15 minutes. They [counted] the
> number of feeding mosquitoes at each minute.

> The team tested different scenarios, such as placing [targets] treated with
> either wild-type or mutant bacteria in separate cages, then putting both
> types of bacteria in the same cage at the same time. When given a choice,
> “twice as many mosquitoes were attracted to the wild type on the blood
> feeder rather than the mutant on a blood feeder,” Tomberlin says.

What these "mutant" type bacteria are, is explained a bit earlier:

> The team used a mutant form of S. epidermidis, in which they deleted the
> genetic mechanism that encodes its quorum sensing system.

And as for the "quorum sensing system", a bit earlier again:

> Bacteria "talk" to one another using a chemical system called quorum
> sensing.

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Programmatic
To expand on your comment, it seems to me that the method by which they tested
only gave results for which target they found more attractive. "Silencing your
bacteria" would still result in non-zero attractiveness due to other factors
such as warmth and CO2. It presumably would therefore not actually repel
mosquitoes, and you would still be bitten in the absence of better targets
(this is especially true if the other nearby targets used the same approach).

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No1
What is up with all the encryption and hacking talk in this article?

"mosquitoes can also hack into bacterial communication systems using
chemoreceptors on their antennae, rather like World War II code-breakers
intercepting an encrypted transmission"

Is it just to mundane to say mosquitos can smell using chemoreceptors on their
antennae, rather like you smelling with your nose?

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Programmatic
That bothered me too, and seems like a bad analogy on top of it all. It
presented the idea of an arms race between the bacteria and mosquitoes. Is
there actually evidence that bacteria have altered their quorum sensing
mechanism due to mosquitoes sensing it as well?

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themgt
With our ever-increasing knowledge of the importance of our friendly
microbiome, does shutting down their communication system really sound like a
good, probably-no-side-effects kind of idea?

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christiangenco
Anecdotally, I'm experimenting with not showering[1] and I've noticed that
this mosquito season in Dallas, TX I've been getting bit about a tenth of what
I usually would (I'm typically the person that sits out with a group of people
and is the only person getting bit), while increasing the time I spend
outside.

I'd read that shampoo washes off the healthy cultures of bacteria that would
otherwise live on your skin, but won't make any further logical leaps - it
could be that I'm just not itching them as much as I usually would.

1\. At least not with shampoo - I'll still rinse off if I get dirt or oil on
my skin. It's also done wonderful things for my hair.

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eveningcoffee
I just hope you do not stink. :) Another note: perhaps you could only clean
your underarms to reduce the (possible) smell and leave everything else intact
(if you do not hang around your arms raised, that should be a good strategy).

Full disclosure: I actually do use the same strategy, just put soap/shampoo on
the smelly parts (and hair in my case as I do not stand oily hair) and leave
everything else untouched. As for anecdotal proof, I do get less bites as the
rest of the family.

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gojomo
Anecdotally, when I'm on a very-low-carb diet (and in confirmed mild ketosis),
mosquitoes seem less interested in me.

There was a study back in 2009 suggesting higher ketone levels in sweat act as
a natural mosquito repellant, but that state could be changing microbiome
balance/chemistry, too – so there are multiple possible mechanisms.

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smileysteve
So, Garlic is antibiotic and antifungal. Go for it.

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lucaspiller
Could washing work too, to rid yourself of the bacteria?

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hcrisp
Being immersed in lake or river water attracts mosquitoes, although I've never
understood why. Washing it off also reduces the attraction.

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pyre
Maybe the coolness of the evaporating water is bringing your blood to the
surface?

~~~
o_____________o
Or bacteria/other factors are aerosolized as the water evaporates?

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ffn
Historically, didn't we use things like hippo fat and secretions of various
flowering plants to ward off the mosquito? I wonder how those things compare
with this mutant bacteria approach.

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conchy
Despite these frequent, optimistic scientific articles, in a lifetime of
struggling with mosquitos I've found the only completely effective way to
avoid all bites is: to move to a desert.

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alan57
I wonder if there's any impact on ticks. Those are far more concerning to me
than mosquitos.

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sergers
garlic works... but then you stink like garlic.

i just spray myself with some deep off woods repellant

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swagv
Is there an API for this? O/w, obt HN?

