Key Points
- US researchers believe they've figured out why some people are magnets for mosquito bites.
- Mosquitoes being more attracted to some people than others is an observed phenomenon but is poorly understood.
US researchers believe they've figured out why some people are magnets for bites, while others are ignored by the blood-sucking insects.
Mosquitoes being more attracted to some people than others is an observed phenomenon but one that is poorly understood, according to research to be published in the scientific journal Cell notes.
Researchers from The Rockefeller University, a New York-based postgraduate research institution, identified carboxylic acids on the skin as an attractant that could lure mosquitoes.
Humans produce carboxylic acids through sebum, which helps to keep our skin moisturised and protected from harm from things like UV radiation, bacteria, and fungi.
The research found people with significantly higher levels of carboxylic acids were more attractive to mosquitoes.
Even mutant mosquitoes without the receptors to smell the acids were still more attracted to those with higher acid levels on their skin.
"This suggests that mosquitoes with significant olfactory deficits are still able to tell the difference between individual people," the research notes.
Mosquito 'attraction score'
Attractiveness can vary wildly.
The researchers determined an "attraction score" based on how mosquitoes flocked to their subjects, finding the most attractive person for the mosquitoes scored four times higher than the second most.
Compared to the least attractive, their score was 100 times higher.
Researchers have developed an 'attraction score' to measure why mosquitoes are drawn to some people more than others. Source: AAP
However, uncertainties remain.
The specific chemical mechanism that differentiates the attractiveness of people to mosquitoes is still unclear, the research notes, while the consistency of skin odour over time is also unknown, particularly "the markedly less intense skin odour that emanates from body sites commonly bitten by mosquitoes".
The research also didn't answer why some people produce higher levels of carboxylic acids than others.
The research could inform the development of more effective insect repellents.
