What attracts mosquitoes to certain people more than others?

Question

I've heard it has to do with blood type or the amout of VitB in the blood? Is this true?

Thanks guys :)

Answer 1

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.

he 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.

ach time you breathe out and blow off carbon dioxide, you’re telling mosquitoes (and other nasty biting insects like ticks) that there’s a vertebrate, a handy blood container, in the vicinity. Mosquitoes have CO2 receptors on little feelers called palpi and can detect a plume of the gas from about 50 feet away.

Matters aren’t helped, either, by another vertebrate emanation of ours, a volatile chemical called lactic acid, which mosquitoes pick up on their bristly antennae. Humans exude this compound from their hands, from their faces and shoulders--in fact, from just about every pore of their bodies, in secretions like oil and sweat made by skin glands. Lactic acid escapes from our mouths too, whenever we go in for any heavy-duty exercise. As it happens, some of us are quite a bit more effusive than others.

That may begin to explain why everyone doesn’t get bitten equally. There’s definitely a marked difference in people’s skin exudations and their effect on mosquitoes.

It is also becoming clear that mosquitoes are quite fussy--with different species biting different hosts, and even particular bits of their hosts, suggesting they respond to different cues. For example, Anopheles gambiae, one of Africa’s top malaria carriers, is so inordinately fond of humans that it will fly by cattle, ignoring all their bovine odors, to get to the herdsmen.

Answer 2

Blood type definitely. Also mosquitoes don't actually eat blood to live, the females use it as a medium for their eggs during reproduction. They usually eat sap and nectar from plants. Perfume attracts them. They focus on a large warm blooded animal by the amount of carbon dioxide it puts out.

A good tutorial on mosquitoes can be found at the Centers For Disease Control website. Use the keywords West Nile Virus Prevention. And lots of links there too.

Answer 3

The Carbon dioxide when you breathe out. That also attracts bee's. Other factors in attracting mosquito's are heat, moisture, floral fragrances and lactic acid to name some of the 340 chemicals found to attract mosquitos.

Answer 4

Sweets escaping from the skin attract mosquito's to Diabetics, other wise I would guess odor or warmth.
Good Luck&Good Health

Answer 5

All a mosquito is looking for is the CO2 coming from your breath. They can see this and when they do that is why they tend to hover around your head and then take a drink.

Answer 6

Yes it's def the vit B . It make the blood sweeter for the mozzies thus more attracted to certain people.

Answer 7

no. it has to do with the ammount of carbon dioxide produced by an individual. a large person who sweats a lot will have a tendancy to be feasted on more than a skinny person.

Answer 8

Yes, its smell. They (mosquitoes) don't like garlic smell, so eating some, or garlic pills, yes, they sell those, are a good way to repel the disease carriers.

Answer 9

yes it is not only do i know that they like a certain blood type but i don,t know which one. i herd it on t.v. i jest hope it,s not type o

Answer 10

well, i dunno if it's true.. but i heard that mosquitoes are attracted to the color BLUE.. yes.. blue.. (maybe that's why most electric mosquito killers are blue.. you know.. the electric thingy with lights that electrocute mosquitoes when they stick to it)
AND i sweet scents.. floral, fruity, sweet scents... they're attracted to that too.