A taste for humans: How disease-carrying mosquitoes evolved to specialize in biting us

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes like this one specialize in biting humans and are the primary vectors for diseases including dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever. With the help of international collaborators, Princeton postdoctoral researcher Noah Rose and Professor Carolyn McBride revealed that intense dry seasons and regional urbanization drive these mosquitoes’ tendency to seek human hosts. Their new paper provides insight into how this behavior evolved and suggests that increased urbanization may lead more mosquitoes to seek humans in the future. https://bit.ly/2ZXM8wq

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