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MOSQUITOES SEEM TO BITE SOME PEOPLE MORE

Mosquitoes seem to bite some people more

Only the female mosquitoes bite as they are in search on isoleucine which is essential to produce amino acids. This acid is a protein which is important for humans and mosquitoes. The female mosquitoes need protein to develop eggs. Hence isoleucine is vital for mosquitoes and its best source is blood vessels.

Blood Type: Not surprisingly since, after all, mosquitoes bite us to harvest proteins from our blood research shows that they find certain blood types more appetizing than others. One study found that in a controlled setting, mosquitoes landed on people with Type O blood nearly twice as often as those with Type A. People with Type B blood fell somewhere in the middle of this itchy spectrum. Additionally, based on other genes, about 85 percent of people secrete a chemical signal through their skin that indicates which blood type they have, while 15 percent do not, and mosquitoes are also more attracted to secretors than non secretors regardless of which type they are.

Carbon Dioxide: One of the key ways mosquitoes locate their targets is by smelling the carbon dioxide emitted in their breath they use an organ called a maxillary palp to do this, and can detect carbon dioxide from as far as 164 feet away. As a result, people who simply exhale more of the gas over time generally, larger people have been shown to attract more mosquitoes than others. This is one of the reasons why children get bit less often than adults, on the whole.

Skin Bacteria: Other research has suggested that the particular types and volume of bacteria that naturally live on human skin affect our attractiveness to mosquitoes. In a 2011 study, scientists found that having large amounts of a few types of bacteria made skin more appealing to mosquitoes. Surprisingly, though, having lots of bacteria but spread among a greater diversity of different species of bacteria seemed to make skin less attractive. This also might be why mosquitoes are especially prone to biting our ankles and feet they naturally have more robust bacteria colonies.

Beer: Just a single twelve bottle of beer can make you more attractive to the insects, one study found. But even though researchers had suspected this was because drinking increases the amount of ethanol excreted in sweat, or because it increases body temperature, neither of these factors were found to correlate with mosquito landings, making their affinity for drinkers something of a mystery.

Clothing Color: This one might seem absurd, but mosquitoes use vision (along with scent) to locate humans, so wearing colors that stand out (black, dark blue or red) may make you easier to find.

Genetics: As a whole, underlying genetic factors are estimated to account for 85 percent of the variability between people in their attractiveness to mosquitoes regardless of whether it’s expressed through blood type, metabolism, or other factors. Unfortunately, we don’t (yet) have a way of modifying these genes.

Repellent: Some researchers have started looking at the reasons why a minority of people seems to rarely attract mosquitoes in the hopes of creating the next generation of insect repellants. Eventually, incorporating these molecules into advanced bug spray could make it possible for even a Type O, exercising, pregnant woman in a black shirt to ward off mosquitoes for good.

By:- Dr. Ashish Uniyal
(HOD) Department of Agriculture Science.
Uttaranchal (P.G.) College Of Bio-Medical Sciences & Hospital

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