Why do Mosquitoes Bite Some People More Than Others?
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One mosquito bite is annoying, but to be continually bitten by those little creatures can drive you crazy. Even worse, the friend standing next to you seems inexplicably mosquito bite free. The reason why mosquitoes are attracted to some people and not to others can be summed up in a single word: smell.
Scientific research has shown that if you are frequently bitten by mosquitoes, it is because of the smell you give off. Mosquitoes are attracted to the smells of certain people. If a person is rarely bitten, then his or her body gives off a smell that masks the scent that attracts mosquitoes.
The body's masking odors act like a natural repellent to mosquitoes. People who are bitten less frequently, or not at all, emit chemicals that repel mosquitoes. Mosquitoes recognize these smells as something they would not like to feast on and fly to someone else. Recent research has been undertaken to narrow down the smells that are attractive and repellent to mosquitoes. The research was at first described as similar to looking for a needle in a haystack, but scientists have since managed to track down and identify around 30 chemical compounds out of 300 that can protect people.
The mosquito bite repellents currently available on the market work on much the same principle. They mask the attractive body odor that mosquitoes like. Some mosquito bite repellents are plant-based in odor, causing the mosquito to sense that the wearer is a plant and look elsewhere for its food.
The importance of the tests to find a masking order goes beyond solving irritating little mosquito bites. A mosquito bite is not just annoying; it can present a real danger to humans. Mosquitoes carry dangerous diseases, such as malaria. Malaria is the cause of millions of deaths every day and a significant problem in many African countries.
After determining the masking odor that deters mosquitoes, the next step is to duplicate it. If this is possible, then further tests will make sure it is safe to be applied to human skin. If this is successful, then a whole new type of mosquito bite repellent will be available. These repellents should be safer and more natural than previous repellents, as they will be based on the skin's natural masking agents.
Another way to avoid a mosquito bite may be to stay close to friends who are never bitten. Until the new mosquito bite repellent is available, this might be the safest option.
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56
I am skeptical about the idea that some people just never get bitten. I think it's more likely that some people just don't react allergically to the bite. Like most people have eaten a peanut, but it only gives an allergic reaction to some, and in a few it's literally deadly. There must be some kind of antibody. Wish I had it!
- anon50806
55
I am very, very tasty! If there is one mosquito in a room of 100 people, I will be bitten 50 times. My neighbor is in a family of four. Only two of them get bitten. They have found a great repellent: me! I walk next door and they swarm me. I was standing there with blood dripping on both of my lower legs. I have become very fearful of mosquitos. I can avoid a snake, but I am terrified of mosquitos. I have ordered a personal electronic device the emits a sound that they don't like. - anon47293
54
This is the only reason why I prefer to turn on the air conditioner at night. Once I turn off the air conditioner and use the fan instead, I will find the next batch of mosquito bites the next morning. Will have to try the insect repellant. - anon46080
53
I recently returned to the Caribbean to live and the mosquitoes are killing me and no one else! It's frustrating! lol. If I cover my body, they attack my face, so I have to leave my hands out so that they distribute their venom! I am going to try eating more garlic (as a few persons claimed this works). We'll see how this goes. -- Tasha - anon44116
52
I am very much bitten by mosquitos. Once I was at a restaurant near the bushes and I was attacked by thousands of mosquitos. Even though I was wearing stockings,they kept biting me until I, at last, left the place. My friends were not avoided. I wonder. My blood type is B + and I am diabetic. - anon43835
51
isn't this article supposed to tell you *what* things actually work?
garlic is a great food to prevent them. in fact most spicy or hot foods are. make sure you get a good dosing of garlic bread before going out to mosquito areas and you're cool. garlic is also effective on other blood suckers, fleas, ticks, and even the mythical vampires. most pet shops sell "brewers yeast", which is basically a garlic powder that dogs and cats will eat. its best mixed into wet foods to make sure they eat it all. cheapest flea and tick repellent available and also has plenty of vitamins. - anon43833
50
I have found that Avon skin-so-soft spray works wonders for me. Also army surplus mosquito repellent. Comes in a little green bottle and lasts for several years. My husband always had this on hand. Don't have to use much and goes a long way. Must wash hands immediately after use. - anon43832
49
I have discovered over many years of being bitten while others are ignored that different things work on different people. The Skin-So-Soft bath oil and the Avon insect repellent work on me where the DEET didn't. You just have to find what works on you and stick with it. - anon43823
48
I used to not get bit. Then I would get bit a few years down the road. then a few more years and no bites. Still a diabetic, still type A+, still carnivore, still overweight, still the same color, still the same steak n potatoes person, explain that. Now there is a town in our little state where the mosquitoes are no respecters of persons. I have never met anyone there or going to or from or through there that didn't shake hands with a mosquito. they got one bite. even the trees got one bite. they check you to see if you are a tree -- they were tricked before. So every one gets patted down. like security. - anon43820
47
Malaria is the cause of millions of deaths every day? - anon43818
46
Hi. Just wanted to share: if you use non-perfumed and non-chemical peppermint soap, they won't bother you. Also sucking on peppermint candies can help. - anon43814
45
I can be in the farthest corner of the house and they seek me out. Always have. Skin-so-Soft does absolutely nothing. Burts Bee's seems to work but its too greasy. I try not to wear or use anything with a scent when I know I'll be outside. Not much luck. - anon43812
44
im not sure what blood type i am. but nothing, i mean nothing bites me. i have no problems with chiggers, deer flies, fleas, ticks or mosquitoes. i just decided that i must taste bad to them. i'm not a vegetarian, i eat about anything. i never use the same products for bath, etc. - anon43804
43
My grandmother came up with a home remedy for bug bites that works quite well. Buy a regular bottle of rubbing alcohol, a block of camphor gum (can be found at some pharmacies -- may have to look around though) and a bottle of generic aspirin. Usually the camphor gum comes in a little block with four circles or squares connected together to make a 2-inch square block. Put half the block and 20 aspirin into the bottle of rubbing alcohol and shake it up, keep it in the fridge and keep shaking it up. it should eventually dissolve. you could try a pill crusher and cut up the camphor into smaller pieces for quicker effect but keep it refrigerated and the stuff works great. - anon43800
42
To annon37734: I've also tried Listerine. It didn't keep the mosquitoes away, but it did get me drunk as a skunk! - anon43796
39
Mosquitoes don't like me and neither do fleas. my blood type is B+ and I'm not a vegetarian but I eat very little mea. I can't eat a lot of certain fruits because I'm told my blood is acidic and it causes a slight rash. I always thought this was the reason I never got bit, but when I was around five years old, we were back east and my mother told me I was a mosquito feast, so who knows? Maybe we don't require that repellent as young children until we go through puberty, because now as an adult they avoid me like the plague. - anon43783
38
I get eaten alive by mosquitoes. My son and husband are immune to them. Hubby and I are the same blood type, he smokes, I don't. Maybe that's the difference? My kid doesn't smoke though so I don't think that nicotine has anything to do with it. I used After Bite for years and went through dozens of the tubes and they are not cheap! One day I had a particularly swollen bite on my neck and my neighbor suggested I use rubbing alcohol. It worked like a charm and I no longer itch myself crazy when bitten. The rubbing alcohol takes the sting out instantly and a fraction of the price in comparison to After Bite. The Avon "Skin So Soft" stuff doesn't work on me and its a real pain in the butt to be applying oil all the time. Neither does their bug spray work very well either. Off doesn't work on me. I have tried every bug spray on the market and nothing works for more than a day or two at a time and I have to switch to something else. Someone told me to try vitamin B-complex - I took it for years on end and it didn't work much. I have also tried B-1 this year and it didn't help either. I have been told to try tea tree oil and will give that a try when I get to the health shop. - anon43782
37
I'm scared because I don't know if I'm just lucky to have never been bitten. I have quite low blood oxygen due to asthma and thalassaemia trait, and mosquitos don't even come near me, but I don't know if it's down to luck or if I do repel them. - anon41626
36
My mother and I both do not get bitten by mosquitoes, and when we wear watches, the batteries will die in a matter of weeks, maybe two months at most. Just wondering if any of the other people who don't get bit by mosquitoes also have this odd problem? She claims that it is from growing up in New Mexico near nuclear test sites, but i think she is just kidding (i hope).
We eat pretty different diets (she has celiac disease, i have no food allergies). i used to smoke, she never did, she takes vitamins and i don't. - anon39809
35
I am one of the ones who have never had a mosquito bite. For some reason they have never bitten me. I grew up in GA were mosquitos abound, but I've never been bitten. Even if a mosquito lands on my skin, I haven't been bitten. I can feel them when they land and brush them off. Blessed! - anon39095
34
I am the one in the group who gets the bites too. the best way to stop the itch is to dip a cloth into boiling water or really, really hot water and dab the bite. it takes the itch away in seconds. hot water acts as an anit-inflamatory and it draws what was injected into the skin to the surface. give it a try, trust me it works! - anon38567
33
my grand parents swear by listerene in a spray bottle - anon37734
32
Wow, this was really helpful! Not only did it sort of explain why I'm bitten *so* often, while others around me don't get bitten at all, but I'm gonna go out ASAP and buy this After Bite I keep reading about! Nothing else seems to work for me. Thanks! - anon37212
31
Because mosquitoes have always found me tasty since I was 3 years old (Blood Type B - carnivore/diabetic), I now use After Bite itch eraser (found at the drugstore) along with wearing long pants/long sleeves whenever I know I'll be standing around outside for any extensive period of time. I make sure the material doesn't cling to my body (or else mosquitoes will bite me through my clothes) and brighter colors if there's sunshine so I don't overheat. Scratching leaves scars (I scar dark), so if I can't squeeze the clear fluid out of the bite, rubbing the After Bite on it will work. Face it, some of us are just tasty :) - anon36596
30
Mosquitoes love me, even since I was a toddler. I'm a vegan and have O blood type. My mother has the same blood type, but does not get bitten up like me. I am bitten up right now by mosquitos, I'm really itchy. - anon35690
29
Yes After Bite really works! I bought mine at Wal Mart.I get eaten alive when I go out to my backyard. My son does too. We really hate it; my son swells up badly! Off and all those bug sprays don't work on us.I also heard that mosquitoes don't like a brand from Avon called Skin-So-Soft. I bought it; I think it works OK. - anon35614
28
This is great. I never get bit while everyone around me does. I'm also an A blood type and vegetarian, and was bit as a child, maybe before I really had body odor to repel. But I've read that the A positive blood type gets bit less and the O the most. - anon35280
27
I haven't been bitten by a mosquito in about ten years or more--not once. They land on me and then move on. I have used Vaseline Intensive Care lotion for years and that is the only thing I can think of that may repel the mosquitoes. - anon35236
26
I too suffer from being the only one getting bit in groups. My inlaws like to say they're safe from bugs when near me, but even when they get bit they don't react like me. For some reason anti-itch creams have never really worked for me. If you can o.d. on a cortizone cream, I'm like way overdue for that.
I found a product in Montreal that works wonders for me. It's called After Bite - The Itch Eraser which is a a slow releasing liquid applicator that you dab on the bite. It's been very helpful because I swell up like crazy and itching creams do nothing so to stop the itch I have to scratch my limb off till I'm scarred. The After Bite for once actually controls a big majority of the itching and it makes a lot of the swelling go down quickly. Thought I'd pass it on. If you can't find it I'm sure you can order it online. - anon35198
25
All I seem to read is people getting bit! I have *never* been bit so I'm happy :) if you lot read the article, it says it doesnt always work but it depends on the odour that you give off "naturally". I always thought I never got bit because I had *bad* blood but obviously not. I recently got off holiday and I slept in between my mum who was furthest from the window and my brother who was closet to the window and they got bit to hell by the mosquitoes, why didn't I get bit even though I was in the middle -- because I am a *natural mosquito repellent!* :) - anon34945
24
its aggravating cause i have like beautiful skin during the winter, but have to cover it all up! so during the summer i get bit...even under a pair of pants some kind of bug can somehow find me. when i was little i remember i couldn't walk in the grass let alone outside without having bugs swarm around me. there was one point in a summer where i couldn't see my ankle due to bites on me. darn sweet body odors! - anon34109
23
I'm pretty sure sweat and moist skin are big attractants to mosquitoes. I have very moist skin and overly active sweat glands and the mosquitoes simply cannot get enough of me. I went camping with my girlfriend last year by a lake. She had little to no mosquito bites at all by the end of it. I was literally covered from head to toe. I had well over a hundred.. no exaggeration. This year we went camping in a place with less mosquitoes. In spite of eating many cloves of garlic and drenching myself in deet i was still bit many times (although not as many as the last time.. I'm guessing it had a lot to do with there being less mosquitoes). - anon34042
21
Hello Dig21445,So what is the name of the product you keep saying is so great? I'm sure most of us here would like to get it as well. Thanks. - anon26638
20
Long sleeves and long pants, repellent on my skin *and* clothes, on holiday in NZ, and I currently have bites covering my entire body. I stopped counting at 100+! What gets me is the instant welts, inevitable pus and scabs and the disfiguring scars I am left with. I *hate* being a mosquito magnet! Wearing a short skirt is now out for this summer... - anon25680
19
I was trying to find why insects bite me so much more than other people, not just mosquitoes. I am sometimes viciously attacked by flies in general, but most insects bite me. Even ones you wouldn't consider biting insects like fruit flies and those hoppers (that's what we call them) that live in the grass.I truly believe it has something to do with my blood as I've liberally sprayed myself with insect repellent with the most Deet I could find with little success. One downside to getting bit so much while others are relatively bite-free is that people tend to think you are imagining you are getting bit. It's hard to explain that you are currently getting bit by a fly when they see no flies around because it is a No-See-Um (baby fly) that is biting you. With years of frustration I have finally convinced people close to me that I'm not imagining it at all and I am getting bit quite often. Fortunately, I don't have problems with mosquitoes as I live in the desert. But believe it or not after living here several years and having never seen a mosquito here I actually have had seen a few in recent years and somehow they find me.
- Pahrumpian
18
I used to get bitten previously; however, since I have been taking the vitamin/mineral supplements from a BodyWise Company (mail order) they do not bite me at all. In fact I have watched them actually land on me and put their mouth? (word) down to me and pull away without biting me!! Are you sure it is not to do with Vitamin or Mineral intake? - anon17681
17
This weekend, my family held a barbecue for labor day. Nobody even realized there *were* mosquitoes until they looked at me. My legs, arms, and even fingers were *covered* in giant bites, while the rest of the group was untouched, with the exception of *one* bite on *one* other person. The worst part of it is that no matter how many layers of clothing I wear, or how much bug spray I put on, I'm *always* the one to get bitten up. Argh! - anon17573
15
Okay, well basically this research doesn't apply to me and my step mom. Both of us are neither diabetic, overweight (to any degree, together we weigh in at about 220 pounds), we are not pregnant, we don't have a high cholesterol level, and when you say we should stay around friends who don't get bitten, well that's pretty false because then they'll just go on you instead! All the mosquito repellent candles, products in general, don't work on us. We have been to many doctors and they all don't know why they are specially attracted to us. We think that there is something in our blood, or blood type, like if there is a pill we could take, or a certain drug/ vitamin we could take, we would be all over it. - anon15810
12
I would like to know what site to log onto to find the Best Yet mosquito repellent, as mentioned on your site. I need some of that stuff. I have asthma and am allergic to most of those things that are in stores , to spray on. If this stuff can be put on babies, surely I could use it. Please let me hear from you . Thanks, N.F. - anon13699
11
Very helpful article thank you. I get bitten too much even after I spray myself with mosquito repellent, and even over my clothes as well. I guess I smell like mosquito food. - anon12718
10
I always get way more bites than whomever I'm with. On a trip to a beach Thailand, I slept in the same room as two other family members. The morning after our first night there I counted 34 bites (literally), my brother had 4 bites and my mother had 2 bites. We were astonished. I was always told the old wives reason why mosquitoes bite some people more than others -- people with sweet blood get bitten more! ;) - minombre
9
I always wondered why some people are bitten more than others. Good article. I also get bitten quite frequently especially when I travel abroad to tropical places. I often use sprays with deet or mosquito wristbands that repell the buggers. You can get a wristband at most drug stores or dept stores. - sonia99
7
The Company that makes the product BEST YET is in Texas. They have a huge website and a online store. I spent 4 hours in the site reading testimonials and researching the different technologies they have invented. It appears to me they have some of the Best Kept Secrets in the Industry. Unfortunately they are not a public company or I would own a piece of them tomorrow. It will link to all of the other sites they have. As to the BEST YET product, we found that when used on the animals it will kill the fleas and ticks instantly. Never saw anything like this in my life. When you spray it, the fleas fall off the dogs dead before it ever hits them. The Press Release claims it freezes the insects because the reaction to the solution makes them close all of the body pores they breathe through. Now think about that for a moment. When reading the Testimonials I find that the hotels are now using it to control the bedbug problems that is mammoth throughout the world. I can see why. It is really a neat product. - dlg21445
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I have not had a bug bite of almost any kind in the last 20 years and have often wondered why, so i found this article very interesting - I have also noticed that most perfumes don't smell as good on me as they do others - I am assuming this is for the same reason - INTERESTING - anon3487
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so where do you buy this Best Yet repellent - sounds great - beach4dj
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I found out from the USDA that there is a new mosquito product on the market. It was created by a company in Texas. They made it for the Army and the Middle East soldiers. It has the highest bio content of any of the 10 tested by Iowa State who was commisioned to do the study for the US Government. It is really a neat product. Made from melted quartz rock and cedar oil. Will last all day long, 12 hours they say. Feels really good on the skin and will not burn under the army uniforms like DEET. Will not affect the nervous system like DEET. Can be used on babies and animals. I ordered some and tried it. I know why the Army wanted it. It really is the Best Yet. That is what they call it. - dlg21445
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Written by
Garry Crystal
Last Modified: 01 November 2009
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