Mosquitoes love 1 in ten people
About one in every 10 people appears to be more attractive to mosquitoes than everyone else. Why? No one knows exactly why, but genetics seem to play a role: if your mom or dad was a mosquito magnet, you might be, too. Other factors include your diet, substances on your skin such as perfumes, soaps, cosmetics and deodorants, and how your particular body chemistry manifests on your skin surface.
According to a paper published on December 28, 2011, in the online journal PLoS ONE, one answer for a particular mosquito might relate to the abundance and diversity of bacterial communities on your skin. This mosquito is key to malaria transmission. Therefore, the researchers hope to shed light on new ways to prevent malaria.
These researchers conducted experiments with the Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto mosquito. They found that individuals with a higher abundance but lower diversity of bacteria on their skin attract this particular mosquito more than other people do.
The researchers, led by Niels Verhulst of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, speculated that individuals with more diverse bacterial communities on their skin might host some bacteria that emit compounds to interfere with mosquito attraction. So having more diverse bacteria on the skin would make these individuals less attractive to mosquitoes. Therefore, they’d have a lower risk to contracting malaria. So, the researchers said they hope this work will lead to the development of personalized methods for malaria prevention.
By the way, not all mosquitoes bite. Only the female mosquitoes do. The females need human blood to develop fertile eggs.
Bottom line: Scientists discovered that a particular mosquito – the Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto mosquito – is attracted to people with more bacteria, but fewer different kinds of bacteria, on their skin. This information might lead to individualized preventative measures for malaria, since this mosquito is key in malaria transmission.