Can Mosquitoes Bite Through Nets?
WouterUsing a mosquito net can be a great way to keep mosquitoes out of your house and prevent them from biting you. It will create a physical barrier between you and mosquitoes and will protect you from malaria. However, are mosquitoes able to bite through a net? If they are, it may mean that the personal protection offered by the net isn’t all that effective.
A study from Nigeria investigated whether mosquitoes could bite through a net. They found that over half of the mosquitoes were able to bite through the net. They also found that treating the net with an insecticide reduced the likelihood of mosquitoes biting.
In this study, researchers compared the ability of fed and unfed females to bite through an Olyset Plus net. They then examined how long it took for the mosquitoes to bite through the treated and untreated nets. They used the generalized linear model to analyze the feeding success of the mosquitoes.
The fecundity of the mosquitoes was found to be related to the level of haematin in their blood. The amount of haematin excreted by the mosquitoes was dependent on the type of net they were biting through. The results were analyzed by ANOVA and by a Generalized Linear Model.
Taking blood was a process that took 8 minutes for the mosquitoes to complete. The proportion of eggs laid by the mosquitoes was also analyzed. The results showed that the fecundity was significantly reduced by the insecticide treatment.
