Saturday, August 10, 2013

Amazing mosquitoes--but I still hate them

French researchers figured a way to get microscopic video(*) of mosquitoes biting mice. The mosquito probe wiggles around inside trying to stab a capillary. And the probe is quite complicated, including stabbing blades that latch on inside as anchors, and a dual pipe system with blood getting sucked one way and saliva going the other.

And it seems that people who are "immune" to mosquito bites really aren't. Their systems respond to the bite, trying to clog up the bite hole with white blood cells, but the mosquito just wiggled the probe around to hit a bigger blood vessel.

Go read the article, and watch a video or three.
Thanks to Texan99 "We had a rule for the kids: bugs in the house get stomped; bugs outside you leave alone." Mosquitoes were the exception.

(*)They peeled up a thin flap of skin and took the video through it while the mosquito drank.
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2 comments:

  1. Texan996:41 PM

    Wasn't that an amazing video? You could see the little needles rooting around in there. I can't remember if it was that article or the other one I linked to that said mosquitos infected with malaria got more persistent around rooting around until they hit a vessel.

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  2. james10:27 PM

    It was indeed--thanks for spotting that. Cool. Creepy, but cool.

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