I think the main problem with the previous studies is that they couldn't really tease apart the effect of infection and the intrinsic differences in attractiveness among people.

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And manipulation appears to be an obvious way to do it.

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Gametocyte-infected children attracted about twice as many mosquitoes as either uninfected ones or ones infected with non-transmissible stages. The results really jump out.

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The fact that the parasite manipulates the mosquito to this extent can help to explain the incredibly intense transmission of malaria.

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It's amazing how much manipulation is going on in parasites.

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