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Subscribe to RSSSome folks seem to be magnets for mosquitoes, while others rarely get bitten. What makes the little buggers single you out and not the guy or gal you're standing next to at the Memorial Day backyard barbecue?
The two most important reasons a mosquito is attracted to you have to do with sight and smell, says Jonathan Day, a professor of medical entomology at the University of Florida in Vero Beach. Lab studies suggest that 20 percent of people are high attractor types, he says.
Mosquitoes are highly visual, especially later in the afternoon, and their first mode of search for humans is through vision, explains Day. People dressed in dark colors -- black, navy blue, red -- stand out and movement is another cue.
Once the mosquito keys in on a promising visual target, she (and it's always "she" -- only the ladies bite) then picks up on smell. The main attractor is your rate of carbon dioxide production with every exhale you take.
Those with higher metabolic rates produce more carbon dioxide, as do larger people and pregnant women. Although carbon dioxide is the primary attractant, other secondary smells coming from your skin or breath mark you as a good landing spot.
Lactic acid (given off while exercising), acetone (a chemical released in your breath), and estradiol (a breakdown product of estrogen) can all be released at varying concentrations and lure in mosquitoes, says Day. Your body temperature, or warmth, can also make a difference. Mosquitoes may flock to pregnant women because of their extra body heat.
But with more than 350 compounds isolated from odors produced by human skin, researchers have barely scratched the surface behind a mosquito's preference for certain people, says Joseph Conlon, a medical entomologist and the technical advisor to the American Mosquito Control Association.
Although it may all boil down to human odor and genetics -- studies of twins have revealed they tend to be attractive or repellant to mosquitoes in the same measure -- it's more complicated than that, suggests Conlon.
He says the latest thinking is that it might not be about what makes people more attractive to mosquitoes, but what makes them not as repellant. It could be that individuals who get less bites produce chemicals on their skin that make them more repellant and cover up smells that mosquitoes find attractive.
Mosquitoes don't bite you for food, since they feed off plant nectar, Conlon explains. Females suck your blood to get a protein needed to develop their eggs, which can then send more pesky insects into the world to annoy you.
But keep this in mind when you're outdoors this summer: Mosquitoes are more attracted to people after they drink a 12-ounce beer. It could be that people breathe a little harder after a cold one or their skin is a little warmer, suggests Conlon. But that won't stop him from having a brewski, even though he considers himself a mosquito magnet.
Here are more fun facts about mosquitoes and bites provided by our experts:
- Eating bananas will not attract mosquitoes and taking vitamin B-12 will not repel them; these are old wives' tales.
- Some mosquito species are leg and ankle biters; they cue into the stinky smell of bacteria on your feet.
- Other species prefer the head, neck and arms perhaps because of the warmth, smells emitted by your skin, and closeness to carbon dioxide released by your mouth.
- The size of a mosquito bite welt has nothing to do with the amount of blood taken and everything to do with how your immune system responds to the saliva introduced by the mosquito into your skin.
- The more times you get bitten by a particular species of mosquito, the less most people react to that species over time. The bad news? There's more than 3,000 species worldwide.
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"Mosquitoes don't bite you for food, since they feed off plant nectar, Conlon explains. Females suck your blood to get a protein needed to develop their eggs"
Uhh, that would still be biting us for food.
That jumped out at me too. Clearly what he meant to say was that human blood is not their main food source. It's more like a protein supplement for the females so they can produce eggs. Interesting stuff.
Not at all. It's like taking pre-natal vitamin supplements, only it's absolutely necessary. Those supplements aren't food, but one ingests them.
This explains why they really move in before a rain. What can I say, my summer fragrance is Au du Deet.
Editors? This phrase, "individuals who get less bites" should correctly read, "individuals who get fewer bites."
Since the number of bites can be counted, then "fewer" is correct. If something can't be counted, like pain, then the phrase "less pain" is correct.
And yes, I am a mosquito attractor... DEET Deep Woods OFF wipes are easy to carry and use.
your also a nerd
Better a literate nerd who can spell and punctuate that an illiterate critic who can do neither.
I am assume that what you are trying to say, in a semi-literate fashion is: "You're also a nerd."
And I assume what you are trying to say is "I assume"?
I am never bitten by mosquitoes. Whenever they get near, I give them a whey protein shake.
mondaywednesday
nice one!
I'm one of those Mosquitoes magnets. There can be 200 other people around me and I'm the only one that gets bit. Little bastards.
I don't know about mosquito magnet.....but I've been called a chicks magnet.
So in that case alot of chicken's and hen's are really after you huh!
I may be a mosquito magnet, but it is not without reason... What they don't realize is nature provided me with that ability as a way of luring them in. You see, I'm a mosquito serial killer and will dispose of their carcass anytime, anywhere without a shred remorse what-so-ever.
I just hope (cock's) rooster's are not after your booty.
I think that's (chicks magnet) called beastiality
I knew a girl who said that mosquitoes preferred her to her horse. I thought she was being hyperbolic. (We Eastern liberals often use words like that.)
But she wasn’t being hyperbolic at all: it was true. We were all sitting around on our horses, and only Shawn was being bothered by insects. Even the flies were after her instead of the horses. Whatever attracts them, she has the worst case scenario.
same. last summer I was outside eating supper when it was dark out (dumb mistake). the next morning, I had about 40 mosquito bites only on my legs and feet... only person in my family to get more than 20 that night D:
I've worn dark colors most of my life. I've been pregnant multiple times. The only times I've ever been bitten by a mosquito were when I was a child, wearing light colors. Even then I was the least-bitten child around. Skeeters and chiggers both don't find me tasty - something I'm devoutly grateful for.
Fortunately, I'm NOT a mosquito magnet. I've been bit 3 times my whole life (I'm 43) and those bites were when I lived in Florida while going to college. I got these awful welps on my legs and didn't know what they were and they itched like crazy. I was told by the college nurse they were mosquito bites. But, I was there about a yr. and didn't get bit anymore. They don't even fly around me..in fact, most of the time, I don't even know when the mosquitos are bad or not..my kids are a different story. I was told years ago it had to do with your blood type..and I know my blood type is different from my kids..so who really knows?
Awful "welps" eh? Try "welts"...
Perhaps he meant "whelps"? As in mammalian young of some variety? Maybe his children or some puppies were clinging to his legs? :)
I was wondering if maybe its based on sugar levels in your blood...Im diebetic and get eaten alive when I go out. I did take garlic for a while and that helped..Ill try the vitamin B1.
if you have alcohol in your blood do mosquitoes get drunk if they bite you? would they even drink your blood if there was alcohol in it or would they ,detect something weird about your blood after they bite you, and just fly away? the only place they bite me is on my ankles
It isn't vitamin B12 that has ever been recommended to repel mosquitoes, as far as I know. It is vitamin B1--because it is sulphur based, and mosquitoes don't like sulphur. Garlic helps for the same reason. One doctor I know recommends 100 mg. of vitamin B1 to her patients who have this problem. (It is important to take the other B vitamins also, to not upset the balance. Just use the extra B1 when going to a mosquito-problem area.)
Must be garlic too. The Korean side of my family never have problems but, boy, my haole husband gets hammered! He also drinks a lot of alcohol, he's a warm man and fairly large. As a heavy breather, he dispels a lot of carbon dioxide. I agree with the vitamin theory. I don't eat a lot of garlic, but since I started taking supplements, I rarely get bitten.
No matter what i eat or smoke or wear or which vitamin i take, they bite the living hell out of me.
All i can do is stay inside.
Drink a teaspoon of apple vinegar cider once a day and you will keep those little pesky things away. It really works.
i have found to be true that if you put a little of marjarm a spice like oregano
on tour food every day it becomes part of your body chemestry and skin oils
misquitoes wont bite you they will feed on all others
they will hover near and then never land they hate the smell
adults need 2 weeks to get there babys need 2 days
it works cause i know how they love me
so every day i sprinkle a little on my food
wont cost much to try then tell others
from my grand mother's wisdoms
xox cs.
Smoking actually attracts mosquitos. It produces carbon dioxide and monoxide, both attractants. these are the same chemicals produces by those propane "mosquito traps" (along with heat and moisture) to draw them in.
I'm not only a magnet, but I seem to be a vacuum! They seem to come from miles around just to get a bite!!!
I dont truely beleive that,sweat has alot 2do with it.yes sweat brings it out,if u shower or wash thesweat off b4 u go out they wont bother you.OR get skin so soft from avon,it works ask the ppl n minnasota.
I'm also a mosquito "magnet". I've tried everything, from wearing less perfume or no scents at all to carrying a dryer sheet in my pocket (tip/old wives tale?). I may try this wearing light colors instead of darker colors tip to see if that helps but no matter what, I get bit!
When we visited AL, they encountered mosquito's that bit ankles and legs, anywhere they could get instead of arms or neck and were bigger bites compared to usual than what we normally receive here in KY.
I'm with Stan, my best bet is to stay inside during "mosquito season" if I don't want to be eaten alive!
I, and one of my two children are mosquito "magnets". It doesn't matter what I do - I get bit. I am also one of those individuals that swells a lot with each bite. A few years back, I was near Mirror Lake in Utah when I got bite several times - within 30 minutes, my thigh was so swollen that I had to take my shorts off. It took about a week for the swelling to go down.
Summer I too am a magnet for these pesky and quite painful bites. My daughter when she was young had to be taken to the Urgent Care because of a mosquito bite! She had several bites but one that made her ankle look as big as her thigh within an hour of being bit. She had to be given steriods and such. The doctors told us that apparently some of the stuff they inject in you she was allergic to. They even took pictures of her ankle and elbow. The other bites she got along with the abnormal reaction were pretty big and like knots and very warm to the touch. I have never had such a reaction myself, just the itching, burning and slight swelling associated with a mosquito bite. But they love me and don't touch my husband or other children much at all.
Our family has noticed that certain blood types attract more than others If you are O, they really like you.
I think there is a majority of people with O blood type. My husband is O and rarely gets bit by them. I on the other hand have AB+ type and my daughter has A+ and we both are magnets.
Type O is the most common and AB the least.
I have found that mosquito repellent work very well... :-P
Yep I get bitten the moment I step outside of the house, and it's bad because I have to walk everywhere. So I have taken to wearing jeggings and boots, that way the little suckers can't eat me.
Oh and I'm also allergic to DEET and no other mosquito repellent actually works.
Not true. Catnip essential oil has been shown by a university study to be around 7 times more effective that DEET, and unlike DEET, not a neurotixin..
The trouble is it's not widely known and difficult to find. I buy it on line and blend it w/ other essential oils (like lemongrass, which is also a very good mosquito repellent) that smell better than catnip EO and dilute it for my own use. Mosquito magnet no more . . .
My wife and I are both sensitive to high percentages of DEET. Unfortunately, catnip oil is difficult to find. The one time I did find some and used it, my legs were shredded by our cat. I'd rather the mosquito bite, at least I can soothe them with Corticool.
I am in now way paid to endorse a product, but post-bite, I heartily recommend Corticool and all the products from TecLabs. Check them out teclabs.inc
Citronella based repellents have been shown to work, and they don't have the irritation factor of DEET based repellents. And they are pretty easy to find.
And smell, too.
Yeah I did try catnip oil... didn't work. Neither did Citronella. I'm someone who if I walk outside for 5 minutes I'll literally have 80 mosquito bites on me.
Whomever decided to tout Avon's Skin So Soft as a mosquito repellant is a pure idiot. DOES NOT WORK! Mosquitoes love me. I say it's because I'm so sweet lol.
If you are a diabetic and have high blood glucose, more likely than not your breath smells kind of fruity, which is the result of ketones, which won't attract mosquitoes.
Actually ketones are not derived from high blood sugar, but from LOW blood sugar. Ketones are the result of incomplete breakdown of fatty acids during starvation
EAT SOME FRESH GARLIC.....IT WORKS !!!
It may very well keep everyone else away too.... ;)
Yep.
I did that, plus rubbed some on my exposed skin. At first, they just hovered nearby and I thought, 'Cool! It really works!' Then one decided it was going in anyway and zapped me. And then the rest came after me. I ended up running for my life. I was bitten about a dozen times despite the garlic. BTW, did I say that I was a mosquito magnet? Apparently, they love me so much, they are willing to put up with garlic-flavored blood!
A Bounce dryer sheet is useful for repelling gnats. My mom is the only person that I have ever known that was not bitten by mosquitoes. Standing near her didn't help. Like others have said, here in South Louisiana, the only relief comes from going inside.
In otherwords you smell less human to bite. They are working, I believe, on a repellent that has ketone chemical in it to repel mosquitoes. That's good, because I'm not going to ruin my health just to keep the mosquitoes away.
susan....mosquitoes carried diseases from one person to another, you know that, right?
I'm not a magnet ....... thank goodness. I'm 54 years old and can only remember a few bites from when I was a kid. I'm not sure what that means in the big picture but, ........ aaaahhhh never mind. I feel bad for the rest of you folks that are magnets. (On a completely different note, I seem to be a magnet for honets, wasps, yellow jackets, anbd their kind. Now that's a b!tch.
Burgh58, I'm like you. mosquitoes hardly ever get me, but yellow jackets? OH MY GOSH! My husband once said, just stand still and it will go away. So I stood still and guess what! that yellowjacket landed on my arm and stung me! Think I'll ever take his advice again? Not on a bet!
My wife and I can be standing right next to each other and she will get five or six bites and I get none. We always wondered why, so several years ago, we did some research to see if we could find the reason. Mosquitoes, past research has shown, do in fact use a sense of smell to determine a nourishing gulp but it indicated that people with high cholesterol levels tended to be the prime targets and people with low cholestrol levels were not so desireable. It appears to have something to do with cholesterol being a sterol found in the chemical makeup of eggs and mosquitoes need that for developing their eggs.
Sorry Razzney, my cholesterol level is almost frighteningly low, and mosquitos would fly through sheet metal to get to me. My husband (with moderate cholesterol) almost never gets "bit" while I could get 30 bites in one hour. But I do have a high metabolism, so maybe that's the key?
My hubby never gets bitten and his cholesterol is very high. However, mine is very low and I have since a child been a magnet for the buggers. Swell up like an egg when bitten on the face. I remember riding horses and being absolutely covered with them. Stepping outside is a nightmare without repellant protection. Have tried everything from natural remedies to chemicals and the chemicals win. What else can you do when you need to be outdoors?
I have normal cholesterol and am usually a mosquito magnet.
Would that be HDL or LDL cholesterol? Don't think much about this theory.
Yeah, it's like people taking pills for the neccessary vitamins. We don't use vitamin pills as an actual food source, and they don't suck blood as an actual food source. Lol, they're biting us for the vitamin pills. So yes, it was just bad wording.
I am not obese, I have none of the characteritics in the article, but if I go outside to the garden without first spraying myself I will have several bites!! My husband who has several of the characteristics never gets bitten! So go figure!!
..they're probably smelling the evil oozing out of your neo-con pores and are zeroing in on THAT. ; )
what a sweet and touching article.... I had no idea how much mosquitos wanted to be near us humans:)
tick bites are the worst bites to get... they say you should change your clothes after you get home
because ticks crawl around for about an hour or so before they dig into you
My friends tell me they are bitten when I'm not around, but when I am nearby, they are left alone because mosquitos FEAST on me. I'm such a magnet, I am in great demand at outdoor parties to keep the mosquitos from biting all the other guests (ha). Unfortunately, it may be a genetic predisposition, because my teenage son has the same problem. I have asked countless physicians without ever getting a real remedy. I always wear light colored clothes when outside and have tried everything from bathing with peppermint soap, using Skin So Soft, dryer sheets in my clothes, all to no avail. Last year I read something about using Listerine topically. I bought some and splashed it on my skin before going outside. Surprisingly, it worked better than anything I have tried. Now, I put some in a spray bottle and spritz my clothes also. Until something 100% effective comes along.......this has made my life a little better in the warmer months.
or you can consider yourself for having SWEET MEAT for the mosquitoes.
everybody read April-376983 comments
is this really possible?
Yeah -- it's possible. I've lived in many mosquito prone places. I think they are moderately attracted to me -- nothing special either way -- but I HAVE seen people that can be sitting there and totally ignored by them too! GRRR!
eat Italian food with lots of garlics in it......natural repellent.
my wife and kids get bitten up pretty bad...I get left alone usually. They have different blood type than me. A type....me O pos. The father in law who also has type A blood gets the crap bitten out of him. They are always annoyed that I get left alone. I have been fishing with my father in law and not worn any repellant at all...he is wearing about 30% deet and those repellant wristbands on every limb and still gotten bit all to hell while I get away with maybe one or two bites the entire trip. I have a normal cholesterol range..higher than my wifes. I think the blood type is part of the key, Although I am a smoker..which could have something to do with it. If I am by myself outdoors, I do tend to get bitten more than if someone else is with me. Sand gnats seem to not mind though and go after me just as much as other people around me. I hate them far worse than mosquitos
Finally, a research study is being posted that has some merit. I often wondered if mosquitos had preferences. In college a roommate and I went camping. I got a few bites, but he was bitten ruthlessly. The same with my wife. We can be exposed to the same conditions, and she gets ten times more bites than I do if we forget to use repellent. Now the few bites that I get are just as bad as any bite, but I just don't get as many.
Whatever the reason for one person being bitten more than another, everyone gets bit and using repellent solves the problem.