It Is Your Smell That Attracts Mosquitoes Towards You

October 22, 2022 By Aaem Joshi

(Image Credit Google)

Researchers reveal that people who smell in a particular way attract mosquitoes, producing a certain chemical related to this. Leslie Vosshall, a neurobiologist at Rockefeller University in New York stated, “If you have high levels of this stuff on your skin, you’re going to be the one at the picnic getting all the bites,” “There’s a lot of folklore about who gets bitten more but many claims aren’t backed up with strong evidence.”

The researchers put mosquito magnetism to the test by coming up with an experiment by pitting scents with each other with 64 participants. They asked them to wear nylon socks around the forearm to get the smell of the skin and then they were put in separate enclosures in a tube and mosquitoes were released. Study author Maria Elena De De Obaldia stated, “They would swarm to the most attractive subjects, It became very obvious right away.” Mosquitoes were attracted to the mosquito magnet 100 times more than the person who finished last. The Aedes aegypti mosquito which spreads diseases like Zika, dengue, and yellow fever was used for the experiment. Vosshall stated that she expected results that were similar to this from other kinds of mosquitoes but it would require more research.

A neurogeneticist at Florida International University, Matt DeGennaro, who was not involved with the research, said, “Mosquito magnets seem to remain mosquito magnets.” Researchers found a common factor which was that the participants had high levels of acids on their skin. Vosshall states that the greasy molecule is produced in different amounts which is the moisturizing layer and you cannot get rid of these acids without the skin’s health getting damaged. Also, Read- Can Soap Bubble Machines Keep Mosquitoes at Bay? Vosshall stated, “Mosquitoes are resilient, they have many backup plans to be able to find us and bite us.”

By Aaem Joshi

I am a Journalist who loves digging up stories that remain unheard. Strongly Believe in the knowledge of the social world.

It Is Your Smell That Attracts Mosquitoes Towards You

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