New Valuable Information From Mosquito Feeding Study

New research by the University of Florida showed that mosquitoes bite male birds twice as often as they do females, reported PCT Online. This is a valuable finding for scientists that may help them determine why men are bitten by mosquitoes more often than women in some parts of the world and vice versa in other areas.

Nathan Burkett-Cadena from the University of Florida found that male birds were bitten by mosquitoes 64 percent of the time in comparison to female birds that were only bitten by mosquitoes 36 percent of the time. This research can reduce the chances of people contracting a deadly disease from mosquitoes by learning about their feeding patterns. By modifying the environment of the most vulnerable people, whether it’d be age or sex related, people can dramatically reduce the risks in many different ways such as immunization, repellents and altering work and non-work habits.

However, the study poses other questions of whether or not mosquitoes actually prefer to feed on men or if it is something that men are doing that are exposing themselves more to mosquitoes. Regardless of the reason, if men and women engage in different activities that will put them less at risk, these changes in behaviour can lead to the reduction of mosquito-borne diseases.