Anyone who wants to enjoy a cold beer during the heat wave might want to spray on insect repellent first, after a study found it makes you more attractive to mosquitoes.
The insects are 15 percent more likely to fly towards humans after they have consumed a pint or two, according to a study.
Researchers believe the pests are attracted to odor changes caused by alcohol.
The team, led by scientists at the IRD Research Centre in Montpellier, France, hope their findings will be used to help prevent malaria.
The disease is spread by mosquitoes and kills 780,000 people worldwide every year.
They tested their theory on 2,500 Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes in West Africa.
Writing in Plos One, they said: "To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence that beer consumption increases human attractiveness to An. gambiae, which is the principal vector of malaria in Africa."
英国《每日邮报》27日报道，想在酷热夏日里喝口冰爽啤酒的人也许应该先喷点驱蚊剂，因为研究发现喝了啤酒的人更易得到蚊子的青睐。
研究称，对于喝了一至两品脱啤酒的人，蚊子"上身"的几率提高了15%。
研究人员认为，酒精会改变从人身上散发出来的气味，而这正是害虫所喜欢的。
由法国蒙彼利埃IRD研究中心的科学家领导的研究小组希望他们的这项发现可以对预防疟疾有所帮助。
蚊子是传播疟疾的"使者"，全世界每年有78万人死于这种疾病。
研究人员通过2500只生活在非洲西部的冈比亚按蚊验证了他们的理论。
研究人员在《公共科学图书馆•综合》杂志上发表的一篇文章中说道："就我们所知，此项研究首次证明了喝啤酒增加了人对于冈比亚按蚊的吸引力，它是非洲疟疾的主要传播媒介。"
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