Ouch!
It is the time of year for cookouts and picnics and that means mosquitoes. Have you ever felt like mosquitoes bite you while ignoring everyone else? Scientists are now making progress in deciphering the complex chemical cocktail that makes particular people more enticing to these disease-spreading bloodsuckers. “It’s not a misconception — mosquitoes are attracted to some people more than others.” “But we are not all magnets all the time,” the medical entomologist added. A range of sensory cues can cause mosquitoes to pick one human over another — mainly the smell, heat our bodies give off and the carbon dioxide we exhale. Female mosquitoes — which are the only ones that bite — detect these signals with finely-tuned receptors, then choose their target accordingly. “We have known for over 100 years that mosquitoes are attracted by the carbon dioxide that we exhale. Within around 30 feet, mosquitoes will start detecting our odor, and in combination with carbon dioxide, this attracts them even more,” said the senior author of a recent study on the subject. As they get closer, your body temperature and humidity (sweat) make particular humans even more enticing.
Mosquitoes bite all blood types about the same. They really don’t care much about the color of your skin, hair or even clothes. Odor, on the other hand, matters greatly. “A soup of molecules produced by our microbiota is more — or less — appealing to mosquitoes,” Simard explained. Humans release between 300 and 1,000 different odorous compounds, research has shown, but scientists are only just beginning to understand which ones attract mosquitoes. The woman the mosquitoes most liked to bite — which included pregnant women in their second trimester — produced a large amount of a particular compound made by a breakdown of the skin oil. That even a small increase of this compound — called “1-octen-3-ol,” or mushroom alcohol — made a difference came as a surprise, the study found. Drinking beer has also been linked to attracting mosquitoes, because it raises body temperature, increases the amount of exhaled CO2 and changes skin odor, according to several studies. The Anopheles mosquito, which can spread malaria, was more enticed by the scent of the beer drinkers.
So what can you do to avoid getting bitten? Try loose-fitting clothing that covers your skin, mosquito nets and repellent, Simard advised. “Try to eat light meals — and go easy on the alcohol,” the doctors added.
Bemusing bites
During the summer a local police station developed a mosquito problem.
They deployed the swat team.
I just sprayed an annoying mosquito with mosquito repellent.
Now he’ll never have any friends.
Baby mosquito came back after 1st time flying.
His mom asked him, “How do you feel?
He replied: It was wonderful. Everyone was clapping for me!
There are thousands of different mosquito species.
And they all suck.
May 15th Birthdays
1968 – Madhuri Dixon, 1971 – Jane Seymour, 1996 – Birdie, 1972 – Sarah Hadland
1950 – Stevie Wonder, 1955 – Lee Horsley, 1947 – George Lucas, 1969 – Emmitt Smith