Your DNA Accounts for 85% of Factors Determining How Often Mosquitoes Bite You
BY DAYO ADESULU
Research has revealed that human gene accounts for 85 per cent of several factors which determine how often mosquitoes can bit an individual even when the environment is prone to mosquitoes.
Apparently, we are unable to change our DNA, but scientists are already examining the causes of why some people seldom ever attract mosquitoes in an effort to develop the next generation of insect repellents.
Though, there are other 15 factors responsible to human being susceptibility to mosquitoes bit, but in the overall factors, genetics, which accounts for 85% of the variation between people and their appeal to mosquitoes, is adjudged as the most significant element affecting how frequently we get bit by mosquitoes.
The fifteen percent factors include mosquito magnet, irresistible to mosquitoes, blood type, smell of human carbon dioxide emitted, pregnant women, skin bacteria, beer drinkers and clothing colour
Mosquito magnet
Have you ever returned from a summer hike only to discover that you were covered in mosquito bites while your pals insisted they didn’t? Do you have the itch for mosquitoes? That might have a scientific justification.
20% of people are irresistible to mosquitoes
According to studies, 20% of people are highly attractive to mosquitoes, which is why they are bitten by them more frequently than other people. There are numerous variables that could affect these mosquito bites. Listed below are a few of them, as reported by the Daily Digest.
Type O blood more prone to mosquito bites
Given that mosquitoes bite us in order to obtain protein from our blood, it is not surprising that our blood type can affect how attractive we are to them. They do, however, prefer some blood types over others.
According to one study, Type O blood recipients get mosquito bites almost twice as frequently as Type A recipients. The range of itchiness for those with Type B blood was in the middle.
In comparison to 15% who do not, about 85% of persons emit a chemical signal through their skin that identifies their blood type. The study found that regardless of blood type, mosquitoes are attracted to secretors more than nonsecretors.
Carbon dioxide
The carbon dioxide released in their breath is one of the ways mosquitoes find their prey. They can detect carbon dioxide as far away as 164 feet away via an organ known as a maxillary palp.
It has been discovered that larger, more carbon dioxide-exhaling individuals tend to draw more mosquitoes than other individuals. Children typically get bitten less frequently than adults because of this.
Exercise
Mosquitoes may find you alluring while you exercise because they are attracted to elevated body temperatures as well as the lactic acid, uric acid, and other compounds released via human sweat.
Pregnancy
According to studies, pregnant women get around twice as many mosquito bites as other people. This might be because they exhale 21% more carbon dioxide than average and have a greater body temperature than average. You can read more of such stories at Credible News.
Skin bacteria
According to another studies, the specific kinds and quantity of bacteria that naturally reside on our skin have an impact on how appealing we are to mosquitoes.
Because our skin contains more germs than other areas of our body, mosquitoes may be drawn to it, which could explain why they are more likely to bite our ankles and feet than other regions of our body.
Drinking beer
A 12-ounce bottle of beer can increase your attractiveness to mosquitoes, according to a study that was published in PubMed. It is still unclear why they are drawn to drinkers, though.
Although some researchers hypothesised that this was because drinking raises body temperature or the amount of ethanol secreted in perspiration, neither of these effects was observed to be associated with mosquito bites on drinkers.
Clothing color
Wearing particular colours may help you stand out to mosquitoes since they use their vision in addition to their sense of smell to locate humans.
James Day, a medical entomologist at the University of Florida, claims that wearing colours like black, dark blue, or red may make you more attractive to mosquitoes.
You can read more of such stories at Credible News and The Cheer News
