mosquito (Page 2)

Talk radio is often ridiculous, if not downright dangerous, but an Austrian radio station has come up with a great idea: Broadcast sounds that repel mosquitoes, so if you hear something buzzing in your ear, you know what to do.

The Radio World website reports than Viennese radio station KroneHit has embedded a 14,850 Hz tone in its audio signal in an effort to discourage mosquitoes from biting. The tone imitates the buzzing of a female mosquito, which discourages other female mosquitoes from biting (since it’s the females who cause all the problems for humans). The tone can’t be heard by human ears, so it is unnoticeable to human listeners. All they hear is the usual program. Mosquito expert Michael M
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Most of this has to do with MOSQUITOES! – Global warming raises concerns about the potential spread of infectious diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever. These diseases are currently rare in the West. A team of researchers has demonstrated a way to predict the expanding range of human disease vectors in a changing world.

In Australia, climate changes during the next 40 years and the mosquito’s ability to adapt to new conditions may allow the these insects to expand into several populated regions of the continent, increasing the risk of malaria and dengue fever. Zoologist Warren Porter says that the Australian findings are likely to apply to other worldwide mosquito populations as well.
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The first European victim of a deadly new mosquito-borne disease was bitten while in the United States and is in a coma.

This virus is known as Eastern Equine Encephalitis or Triple E. The victim, Michael Nicholson, was bitten by a mosquito when he spent 6 weeks in Rhode Island and New Hampshire this summer. The disease is found mostly along the East Coast and has a 35% mortality rate and develops 10 days after being bitten. It has flu-like symptoms, which eventually lead to brain inflammation, coma and death.

BBC News quotes Nicholson’s sister as saying, “There is no cure and there is no vaccine, so all you can do is try and prevent yourself being bitten.”

Art credit: freeimages.co.uk
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The mosquito season is finally ending in most of the US and yes, it IS true that mosquitoes like to bite some of us more than others. What causes us to itch, anyway?

Corey Binns writes in LiveScience.com that we have special nerves that send us those prickly feelings. While some nerve fibers focus on deliver pain sensations and touch, others are dedicated to making us itch. Histamine is the culprit. This is a protein that is released during an allergic reaction which tells our special itch nerves to send signals to the spinal cord, where they are transmitted to the brain. Antihistamines work by interrupting these signals.
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