New Study Finds Why Some People Get Bitten By Mosquitoes More Than Others

Do you get bit by mosquitoes more than other people and feel like you’re a “mosquito magnet”? According to a new study, this is because of the way you smell.

Source: CBS Boston/YouTube

A team of researchers at Rockefeller University in New York found that people who have higher levels of certain acids on their skins are 100 times more likely to be bitten by female Aedes aegypti. These types of mosquitoes can spread diseases like dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, and Zika.

The study was published in the journal Cell and took the natural scent from people’s skin by having them wear nylon stockings on their arms. They cut the stockings and put two pieces behind separate doors in a clear plastic box. They had dozens of mosquitos flying around and opened the traps and recorded where the insects chose to fly. The study was specifically to see what the Aedes aegypti mosquitos are attracted to.

Although scientists knew that mosquitos have a preference for some people over overs, there was never a distinct answer to why. Now, with the study’s findings, this could lead to products that could mask those odors that mosquitos are attracted to.

The study found that people who have a higher level of compounds called carboxylic acids on their skin are more likely to attract mosquitos. Although the study did not answer why some people have higher concentrations of this on their skin than others, researchers hope to answer this question in the future.

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