National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: DEET Blocks Bugs From Smelling Humans as "Food"


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A mosquito of the species that can transmit yellow fever and dengue fever drinks blood from a human host.

The powerful bug repellent known as DEET works by blocking insects' odor receptors so that mosquitoes and other pests don't register people as food, a new study says.

Photograph by Darlyne A. Murawski