{"id":3136,"date":"2015-03-14T20:48:16","date_gmt":"2015-03-14T20:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=3136"},"modified":"2016-08-20T01:20:58","modified_gmt":"2016-08-20T01:20:58","slug":"health-check-why-mosquitoes-seem-to-bite-some-people-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/health-check-why-mosquitoes-seem-to-bite-some-people-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Health Check: why mosquitoes seem to bite some people more"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Cameron Webb<\/a>, University of Sydney<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

There\u2019s always one in a crowd, a sort of harbinger of the oncoming mosquito onslaught: a person mosquitoes seem to target more than others. What is it about these unlucky chosen few that makes them mosquito magnets?<\/p>\n

There are hundreds of mosquito species and they all have slightly different preferences when it comes to what or who they bite. But only females bite; they need a nutritional hit to develop eggs.<\/p>\n

Finding someone to bite<\/h2>\n

Mosquitoes are stimulated by a number of factors<\/a> when seeking out a blood meal. Initially, they\u2019re attracted by the carbon dioxide we exhale. Body heat is probably important too, but once the mosquito gets closer, she will respond to the smell of a potential blood source\u2019s skin.<\/p>\n

Studies have suggested blood type (particularly type O<\/a>), pregnancy<\/a> and beer drinking<\/a> all make you marginally more attractive to mosquitoes. But most of this research uses only one mosquito species. Switch to another species and the results are likely to be different.<\/p>\n

There are up to 400 chemical compounds on human skin that could play a role in attracting (and perhaps repulsing<\/a>) mosquitoes. This smelly mix, produced by bacteria<\/a> living on our skin and exuded in sweat, varies from person to person and is likely to explain why there is substantial variation in how many mozzies we attract<\/a>. Genetics probably plays the biggest role in this, but a little of it may be down to diet or physiology.<\/p>\n

One of the best studied substances contained in sweat is lactic acid<\/a>. Research<\/a> shows it\u2019s a key mosquito attractant, particularly for human-biting species such as Aedes aegypti<\/em>. This should act as fair warning against exercising close to wetlands; a hot and sweaty body is probably the \u201cpick of the bunch\u201d for a hungry mosquito!<\/p>\n

Probably the most famous study about their biting habits demonstrated that the mosquitoes that spread malaria (Anopheles gambiae<\/em>) are attracted to Limburger cheese<\/a>. The bacteria that gives this cheese its distinctive aroma is closely related to germs living between our toes. That explains why these mosquitoes are attracted to smelly feet.<\/p>\n

But when another mosquito (such as Aedes aegypti<\/em>) is exposed to the same cheese, the phenomenon is not repeated<\/a>. This difference between mosquitoes highlights the difficulty of studying their biting behaviours. Even pathogens such as malaria may make us more attractive to mosquitoes<\/a> once we\u2019re infected.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Only females bite because they need a nutritional hit to develop eggs.<\/span>
\nSean McCann\/Flickr<\/a>, CC BY-NC-SA<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Researchers are trying to unscramble<\/a> the irresistible smelly cocktails on the skins of \u201cmosquito magnets\u201d. But the bad news is that if you\u2019re one of these people, there isn\u2019t much you can do about it other than wearing insect repellents.<\/p>\n

The good news is that you may one day help isolate a substance, or mixes of substances, that will help them find the perfect lure to use in mosquito traps. We could all then possibly say goodbye to topical insect repellents altogether.<\/p>\n

Attraction or reaction?<\/h2>\n

Sometimes, it\u2019s not the bite as much as the reaction that raises concerns. Think of the last time the mosquito magnets in your circle of friends started complaining about being bitten after the event where the purported mosquito feast took place. At least, they appear to have attracted more than the \u201cbite free\u201d people who were also at the picnic, or concert or whatever.<\/p>\n

But just because some people didn\u2019t react to mosquito bites<\/a>, doesn\u2019t mean they weren\u2019t bitten. Just as we do with a range of environmental, chemical or food allergens, we all differ in our reaction to the saliva mosquitoes spit while feeding.<\/p>\n

People who don\u2019t react badly to mosquito bites may think they haven\u2019t been bitten when they\u2019ve actually been bitten as much as their itchy friends. In fact, while some people attract more mosquito bites than others, there\u2019s unlikely to be anyone who never, ever, gets bitten.<\/p>\n

The problem is that people who don\u2019t react to mosquito bites may all too easily become complacent. If you\u2019re one of them, remember that it only takes one bite to contract a mosquito-borne disease.<\/p>\n

Finally, there is no evidence from anywhere in the world that there is something you can eat or drink that will stop you being bitten by mosquitoes. No, not even eating garlic<\/a>, or swallowing vitamin B supplements<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Perhaps if we spent as much time thinking about how to choose and use mosquito repellents<\/a> as we do about why mosquitoes bite our friends and family less than us, there\u2019d be fewer bites all around.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>.
\nRead the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Cameron Webb, University of Sydney There\u2019s always one in a crowd, a sort of harbinger of the oncoming mosquito onslaught: a person mosquitoes seem to target more than others. What is it about these unlucky chosen few that makes them mosquito magnets? There are hundreds of mosquito species and they all have slightly different […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":6747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[42,118,36],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3136"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6748,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136\/revisions\/6748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}