This begs the questions, why are some people more prone to mosquito bites than others? It turns out there are reasons why and knowing what they are could prevent future bites. In this time of the Zika virus and other serious mosquito-borne illnesses, it pays to understand a little about what make someone a mosquito magnet.
5 Reasons Why Some Are More Prone To Mosquito Bites Than Others
Clothing
Mosquitos are visual insects and they are drawn toward the color red, along with darker colors like black, navy, and brown. It may be to your advantage to wear light colors, especially during dusk and other times when mosquitoes are more active.
Blood Type
Research shows that people with Type O blood attract more than twice as many mosquitos as those with Type A blood (Type B blood attracted a med-range of these two). I’m type A- and my husband is O, so this definitely explains some of his popularity with mosquitos.
Beer
In one study researchers found that significantly more mosquitoes landed on people who had recently imbibed a beer than on those who did not. Maybe choose a glass of wine or refrain altogether at that next BBQ if your goal is to avoid mosquitos.
Warm Bodies
Mosquitos are attracted to warm bodies. They are drawn to the heat and also the scent of sweat, so if you tend to run hot, beware.
Pregnancy
Mosquitos love pregnant women. Researchers believe this is largely due to the fact that pregnant women secrete more carbon dioxide that non-pregnant people and the mosquitos use CO2 as a way to determine the location of their hosts. Pregnant women also tend to have higher temperatures, which goes along with the warm body point above. This is particularly alarming since the recent Zika virus outbreak. Pregnant women are encouraged to wear long sleeves, bug repellent, and to avoid being outdoors in areas where mosquitoes congregate.
So my husband may be sweet, but it’s more a matter of these particulars that make people mosquito magnets. Stay safe and exercise caution at that late summer BBQ. It’s not just annoying—mosquitos could seriously affect your health
This article was originally published at Ready Nutrition™ on August 22nd, 2016
I have O type blood and hardly ever see a mosquito while others are getting eaten alive but I don’t sweat at all 99% of the time so maybe that is the reason.
I always thought being Italian had something to do with why they are attracted to me… Or is that just for flies?
GreenMedInfo had a recent article on the best essential oils to repel mosquitoes, and Litsea cubeba or cubea was first! There is a Bug B Gone bar soap that has that. Also I was wondering if you could use a particular lozenge to change your breath (possibly something lemony) that would repel the little injectors? Looks like a great area for research! Thanks for posting this.
I herd that if you eat garlic you smell so bad that mosquitoes won’t like you either. Can someone confirm this. How about onions too?
I killed off hundreds and hundreds of mosquitoes this summer. I put out plastic buckets from the ice cream store filled with water and a bit of plant life in a shady corner and mosquitoes laid their eggs there. As they hatched and the larvae grew, I scooped them out and fed them to guppies in a water-filled plastic bin nearby. Apparently, the mosquitoes won’t lay eggs if there are guppies present, for obvious reasons, so separate containers are required.
We’ve had very few mosquitoes this summer, partly because of drought in Southern Ontario most of the summer, but also because my guppies ate so many of them.
If you don’t have guppies, you can just dump the pails once a week or so and refill for the next round of victims.
Actually, studies have shown that if two people put their arms into mosquito-filled tanks, both get bitten equally, but some people have little to no reaction to the bites, while others have extreme reactions and some are in between.