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IFAS TV News Script: MOSQUITO TASTE TEST - PKG.LEAD: HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT MOSQUITOES LIKE TO BITE YOU MORE THAN OTHERS AROUND YOU? WELL, YOU'RE COULD BE RIGHT. AS ERIN EASTERLING REPORTS, A NEW STUDY REVEALS MOSQUITOES "CHOOSE" WHICH PEOPLE TO BUG THE MOST. SUPERS: TRT 1:25 TAG: WHEN PEOPLE BREATHE,
THE CARBON DIOXIDE THEY EXHALE CAN ATTRACT MOSQUITOES FROM UP TO 40 MILES
AWAY. IF THIS PICTURE OF BLOOD-SUCKING MOSQUITOES MAKES YOU ITCH, YOU'RE NOT ALONE. A LOT OF PEOPLE THINK THEY GET SINGLED OUT WHEN IT COMES TO MOSQUITO BITES.
DORMIRE : "I think it might be that people are sweet and sour, some people have sweetness in their blood and some people have sourness." (:05) UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA RESEARCHERS THINK THERE'S MORE TO IT THAN THAT. THEY FOUND THESE TINY VAMPIRES HAVE DISCRIMINATING TASTES AND THEY ACTUALLY CHOOSE THEIR VICTIMS.
BUTLER: "They're not just landing at random, they're picking the best sites, they have to, the length of time they're on a host regulates whether they get squashed." (:10) TO TEST THIS THEORY, RESEARCHERS DESIGNED AN UNUSUAL DINNER MENU FOR THE MOSQUITOES. THEY TOOK ODOR SAMPLES FROM VARIOUS PEOPLE AND PLACED THEM IN CONTAINERS WITH BLOOD AS THE MAIN ENTREE. EACH TIME A MOSQUITO BIT A HOST, IT WAS RECORDED ON A COMPUTER.
ALTHOUGH SCIENTISTS STILL AREN'T SURE WHY CHOOSY MOSQUTIOES MAY CHOOSE YOU, THEY DO KNOW VARIOUS THINGS CAN AFFECT A PERSON'S SCENT...SUCH AS PERFUMES, VITAMINS, AND PRESCRIPTION DRUGS. ONE MEDICATION THEY STILL HAVE TO TEST IS VIAGRA. IN GAINESVILLE, I'M ERIN EASTERLING REPORTING.
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