Why Do Mosquitoes Like You so Much?
Some of us love mosquitoes more than others. I believe that I am one of the most delicious people; I get a lot of bites if I don’t wear insecticide and when I was pregnant I got tons. It turns out there are several reasons for this.
They watch your breath
We inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. It’s just a fact of our metabolism. And so mosquitoes (and many other biting insects) begin their hunt for the target by looking for a “plume” of carbon dioxide emanating from the body of a person or animal.
The more you are, the more carbon dioxide you breathe out. (This may partly explain why kids don’t bite as often as the rest of us.) If you exercise, you will breathe even more.
However, movement destroys this plume. If you go for a run, you will be breathing in a lot of CO2, but you are constantly getting ahead of it. A mosquito that is on the leeward side of you will not be able to follow you and keep up.
Or, to disrupt the cloud in another way, you can find a cool place to sit down, or turn on a fan. Blowing out carbon dioxide makes it harder for mosquitoes to find.
Once the mosquito has sniffed you, it will look for a large, warm object. (That’s you.) Some studies show mosquitoes find you easier if you wear dark or bright colors, but people in light-colored clothing still bite a lot.
They smell and taste your skin
If you were to lick your skin and that of your friends (please don’t), you would probably find that everyone has slightly different tastes. Research into mosquito preference shows that some species prefer scents associated with certain genetics. We each have different bacteria living on our skin, and this seems to influence mosquito preferences as well.
But it’s hard to give general advice on how to make yourself less appetizing. Some studies have shown that people are more likely to bite if they drank alcohol or if they have a certain blood type, but these factors are likely to be different for different mosquito species . (For example, a lot of research is being done with mosquitoes that carry malaria; they are not the mosquitoes that bite you at dusk in your U.S. backyard.)
Many mosquitoes look for lactic acid in sweat. If you are sweating, it can help you shower or wipe off the sweat (maybe with baby wipes?) Before spending time in a mosquito-prone area.
Your body may react more strongly to a bite.
Just because you have more itchy and annoying mosquito bites than a friend does not mean that you are necessarily bitten more; it may also be that your body reacts more strongly to them.
Itching from a mosquito bite is a reaction of your own immune system. Basically, you are allergic to mosquito saliva. You may have mild or more severe allergies, and this may even change over the course of your life. For example, when I was pregnant, mosquito bites were an itchy torture. Other times, it’s just a minor annoyance.
Personally, I swear by a device called the Zap-It, which delivers a tiny, histamine-destroying electrical discharge to the area, but you can also deal with the situation with a dose of allergy medication .