Why some people are mosquito magnetsDate: October 27, 2022
Source: Rockefeller University
Summary: The female mosquito will hunt down any human, but some of us get bitten far more than others. The answer why may be hidden in our skin.
It's impossible to hide from a female mosquito -- she will hunt down any member of the human species by tracking our CO2 exhalations, body heat, and body odor. But some of us are distinct "mosquito magnets" who get more than our fair share of bites. Blood type, blood sugar level, consuming garlic or bananas, being a woman, and being a child are all popular theories for why someone might be a preferred snack. Yet for most of them, there is little credible data, says Leslie Vosshall, head of Rockefeller's Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior.
This is why Vosshall and Maria Elena De Obaldia, a former postdoc in her lab, set out to explore the leading theory to explain varying mosquito appeal: individual odor variations connected to skin microbiota. They recently demonstrated through a study that fatty acids emanating from the skin may create a heady perfume that mosquitoes can't resist. They published their results in Cell.
"There's a very, very strong association between having large quantities of these fatty acids on your skin and being a mosquito magnet," says Vosshall, the Robin Chemers Neustein Professor at The Rockefeller University and Chief Scientific Officer of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
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Source:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/10/221027124001.htm
