Why do you get so many mosquito bites? It’s how you smell.

The findings, published Tuesday in Cell magazine, could lead to new products that can mask or alter certain human odors, making it harder for mosquitoes to find human blood and potentially curbing the spread of disease. There is a possibility

Mosquito-borne diseases affect about 700 million people a year, and experts expect their numbers to rise as global temperatures rise, said a professor and mosquito expert at the University of Washington. Jeff Riffell said. of egyptian temple Mosquitoes are known to live in tropical or subtropical climates, but this insect now breeds. all year round Districts and parts of California.

Leslie Vosshall, chief scientific officer at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and principal investigator of the new study, says you’re telling mosquitoes that you’re there just by breathing. . Female mosquitoes are designed to suck blood. Because without blood you can’t get enough protein to reproduce.

“Think of it like a big protein shake,” says Vosshall. “This is how in one minute he ingests 150 pounds worth of food and uses it to lay an egg.”

How to get rid of mosquitoes, and other tips for dealing with these pesky insects

Scientists already knew that these mosquitoes prefer some humans over others, but the reason is not fully understood.

Experts have found that people appear to be more attractive to mosquitoes. they are pregnant or after they have some beerprompting further research into whether mosquitoes are attracted to specific odors.

Vosshall, whose lab is at Rockefeller University, Set out to find out why some people seem to smell better egyptian temple mosquito than others.

Luckily, I didn’t have to sit in a mosquito-filled room to do this experiment. Instead, the researchers had nylon stockings worn on their arms to collect natural scents from people’s skin. I placed two pieces of fabric behind two separate trapdoors in the box. The researcher opens the trap and the insect chooses to fly to the bait (stocking) behind the first door or her second door.

Vosshall said the researchers conducted a round-robin tournament, counting each time an insect was attracted to a particular sample, much like points in a basketball game. One of the samples described as being from “Subject 33” emerged as an insect favourite.

“Subject 33 won 100,” Vosshall said. “They were completely undefeated. Nobody beat them.”

The study found that people like Subject 33 who had high levels of a compound called carboxylic acid in their skin were more likely to be “mosquito magnets.”

All humans produce carboxylic acids via sebum, the waxy sebum of the skin. The sebum is then eaten up by millions of beneficial microbes to produce more carboxylic acid. said. Its odor seems to attract female mosquitoes in search of human blood.

Notably, the nylon stockings used in the study didn’t actually smell like sweat.Mosquitoes are very sensitive to human odors. It cannot be covered with perfume or cologne. The experiment, which he conducted for three years, kept the same people appealing to mosquitoes regardless of what they ate that day or whether they changed their shampoo, Vosshall said.

“If you’re a mosquito magnet today, you’ll be a mosquito magnet three years from now,” Vosshall said.

The study does not answer why some people have more carboxylic acids in their skin than others. I said yes.

“Everyone has a completely unique village of bacteria that lives on their skin,” Vosshall said. may be the difference.”

Professor LJ Zwiebel of Vanderbilt University, who was not involved in the study, said there is no “single compound” that attracts mosquitoes, although carboxylic acids are clearly involved. It’s probably a “cocktail” of different ingredients that the mosquito signals to come home and bite, he said.

“Mosquitoes are multimodal magnets that use many different signals,” said Zwiebel. Carboxylic acid is “one of the key ingredients, but not the only one.”

For those who don’t want to be bitten by mosquitoes, I recommend taking a shower to reduce all of those “juicy compounds” with a “specific odor” on your skin, especially around your feet.

Vosshall said The future depends on finding ways to “manipulate” the skin and, potentially, the odors that come from the bacteria that live there. For example, a scientist could develop a probiotic skin his cream that blocks or reduces levels of certain byproducts.

“Only when you understand why people attract mosquitoes can you start brainstorming ways to stop them,” says Vosshall.

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