One of the reasons why we decided to create this blog was to give our point of view about all the bullshit you may find on internet lately. Our considerations are based on the experience we have accumulated working for the last ten years in our insectary with different mosquitoes species: Anopheles, Aedes and Culex.

10) ”Mosquitoes only bite at the dusk” (Not really!) Mosquitoes biting behaviour depends on the species.

9) ”Mosquitoes prefer certain type of blood” (I really would like…) There are no scientific evidences those mosquitoes biting choice depends of a particular type of blood or diet.

8) ”Repellents are all the same” Repellents with Icaridina last longer and are less toxic than the DEET ones.

7) “If you leave the light on outside the room, mosquitoes won’t bite you” (That’s just a legend!)Even though the lights, according to the experiments we performed, attract insects, mosquitoes are more attracted by a possible blood meal.

6) ”SIT can be the cause of Zika spreading disease” The Sterile insect technique produce sterile males, since female mosquitoes only mate once in their lifespan, mating them with those males will reduce mosquito vector population. Since only female mosquitoes can transmit the Zika virus, SIT has nothing to do with it.

5) ”Aedes needs clean water to lay the eggs” (They like dirty stuff!) In our lab, if mosquito’s eggs are laid in clean water they do not hatch.

4) ”Female mosquitoes only feed on blood” (They are not vampire yet…) As for the males, also females mosquito need sugar to survive

3) ”Mosquitoes can transmit any diseases if they get a meal with blood infected” (Hell no!) Pathogen carried by mosquitoes need a certain environment inside mosquitoes to survive, for example, there are no scientific evidences of HIV transmission with a mosquito’s bite

2) ”Mosquitoes only bite once during their lifespan” (That would be great…) Mosquitoes can bite several times during their lifespan, one or more blood feeding are required to develop their eggs.

1) ”Mosquitoes die after laying their eggs” (Ah,ah,ah) In order to lay their eggs, mosquitoes must be mated and have developed ovaries in their abdomen. A mosquito takes around 48 hours after a blood meal to produce fully developed eggs.

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