If research chemist Ulrich Bernier with the United States Department of Agriculture is to be believed, mosquitoes may soon have to go elsewhere to find a meal.

Mosquitos use their sense of smell to zero in on a target. Current repellents such as DEET are formulated to make the wearers smell so unpleasant to the insects that they move on to another blood source. However, the toxicity of DEET over the long term, and the discovery of mosquitoes evolving to overcome DEET's odor, are making scientists and manufacturers search for alternative compounds.

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Using biochemicals similar to those found in the human body, Bernier came up with a combination whose end-result is the ability to render the wearer invisible to the mosquito's nose. His theory is that rather than make the wearer smell unpleasant, and therefore still detectable, to the mosquito, make the wearer entirely undetectable.

"It's a pretty neat discovery because I don't think anyone else has shown chemicals this capable of blocking skin odors that are normally attractive to mosquitoes," said Bernier, who presented the research at the American Chemical Society meeting in Indianapolis, IN, last year.

"It's so much better than anything else we've ever seen," he beams.

The new formula still has to be tested for toxicity and practical application, but its potential could have far-ranging implications on mosquito-borne diseases. The West Nile Virus and Chikungunya send hundreds of people to the hospital in North America and the Caribbean every year.

China is currently suffering its largest dengue fever outbreak in decades. In 2012, there were 207 million cases of malaria worldwide, and at least 627,000 deaths, mostly among children, according to the World Health Organization.

Bernier's invention could be supplemented by the recent discovery of two species of spider that feed almost exclusively on mosquitos, providing a natural means of control in areas that experience a boom in mosquito populations. 

Tagsmosquito virus, mosquito, dengue, West Nile Virus, Chikungunya, mosquito control