New research has discovered that disease-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes can use their senses, including the ability to detect infrared radiation (IR), to enhance their ability to find hosts.

The research, conducted by a team at the University of California in Santa Barbara (UCSB), also found that this newly identified sense largely increases the insects’ host-seeking behavior when combined with other cues like CO2 and human odor.

According to the study “Thermal Infrared Directs Host-Seeking Behavior in Aedes Aegypti Mosquitoes,” published in Nature, the mosquitoes use specific proteins to sense IR. This has shed some light on how they locate their human hosts and offered new ways to control mosquito-borne diseases.

The research showed that this ability is particularly notable in the Aedes aegypti species, which is also responsible for tens of millions of cases of widespread disease globally, including dengue, yellow fever, and Zika.

The other mosquito species, Anopheles gambiae, spreads malaria, which, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), causes nearly half a million deaths each year globally.

The risk of infection stems from female mosquitoes, which require blood for egg development, while male mosquitoes pose no risk of infection.