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The almost 3,000 species of mosquitoes in the family Culicidae (of the 150 found in North America, 63 call New Jersey home, which makes NJ the mosquito capital of the country) have been around for over 30 million years. During that time they’ve become highly specialized in seeking out and feeding on blood, from which females get the protein and iron required to develop eggs (males don’t drink blood, and for sustenance, both sexes feed on nectar).
Mosquitoes have chemical sensors that can pick up carbon dioxide and lactic acid from up to 100 feet away. Once they’ve been tipped off that there’s someone or something breathing nearby, they follow their noses to hone in on their prey, insert their proboscis and begin feeding. Their saliva contains a grab bag of proteins that affect blood vessel dilation, blood clotting and platelet aggregation, which makes grabbing a meal easier, but also leaves us with red itchy “bites” (though they don’t actually bite us, it’s more of a stab than anything) as our immune systems break down these proteins.
They Love You, They Really Love You
After a summer barbecue, does it seem like you’re covered head to toe by these bites while people who were sitting right next to you only have one or two? It’s not paranoia, because the ‘skeeters actually are out to get you.
Remember when I said that mosquitoes follow their nose to you? I wasn’t just being cute. I meant that they actually use an odor-based navigation system to find suitable victims. Proteins in their antennae, heads and noses latch on to chemical compounds emitted from our skin, and some of us just happen to give off odors that they find simply irresistible.
And the person sitting next to you, laughing silently as you get eaten alive? They’re not special, they just smell different. Their body emits chemical compounds that make them unattractive to mosquitoes either by acting as repellents or by masking the compounds that mosquitoes would find attractive (we’re not sure which way it goes, yet, but those intrepid entomologists are looking into it).
Scientists at Rothamsted Research (an agricultural research center in the UK) are also working to figure out which odors attract mosquitoes and which ones repel them. Thus far, thirty chemical compounds that definitely turn mosquitoes off have been identified and may be the key to the next wave of bug sprays.
This question was asked, during a fit of scratching, by my girlfriend Erica. If you’ve got a burning question that you’d like to see answered here, shoot me an email at flossymatt (at) gmail.com. Twitter users can also make nice with me and ask me questions there. Be sure to give me your name and location (and a link, if you want) so I can give you a little shout out.
Comments (19)
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i came upon this article while suffering the itching of 15 mosquito bites, including some on the bottom of my feet. i’ve always been eaten alive, as has one of my daughters. my husband and other daughter aren’t even bothered. why oh why!!!! i can’t help but ponder the incubation periods of west nile, dengue, encephalitis, and malaria.
posted by jo on 10-3-2008 at 11:38 am
This is great. I just moved to Washington, DC, and thanks to the humidity, mosquitoes are everywhere! And all my “bites” have turned into bruises! It looks like capillaries have burst underneath my skin!
Now I know…mosquitoes actually do like me. They really like me! (I wish they didn’t.)
Thanks for letting my know I smell delicious. …I think.
posted by Catherine on 10-3-2008 at 11:52 am
I almost feel a little offended at smelling so bad even mosquitoes won’t bite me. Yet, on the other hand, it does feel nice to be the one giggling instead of getting chewed alive. When I do get bitten, on that rare occasion, however, I’ve found that if you don’t scratch the bite initially, it won’t become a massive red bump of itching. But from the moment your nails first graze the bite, you can’t stop scratching.
posted by Alexsandra on 10-3-2008 at 12:30 pm
Finally the answer to my eternal summer question!!
I always get bitten way more than anybody else around the campfire, even with repelent. I’ve tried all the formulas and still, the mosquitos find me.
It’s reassuring that insect repelent makers will try to invent a different smell instead of going more toxic.
posted by Mel on 10-3-2008 at 12:37 pm
I am one of the blessed. My wife gets eaten alive well I sit comfortable in a hammock. I have a totally unfounded theory, but here it is. Since mosquitos carry malaria perhaps the ones who do not get bitten have genes that go back to a malaria region and ole Darwins theory was at work.
posted by Marty on 10-3-2008 at 12:42 pm
i’m with alexsandra… i’m slightly offended that i smell so bad mosquitos won’t bite me, but i suppose that since i don’t get bitten, it’s a fair enough trade.
posted by kelly on 10-3-2008 at 1:42 pm
my brother and i are very similar, and now, i guess it turns out we both must smell the same…when we were younger we were in minnesota for a camping/family reunion thing, needless to say we ended up with tooooons of bites, no joke hundreds of them! covered our faces, necks, arms, legs, EVERYWHERE. when we got home we had so many bites that we had to go to the doctor and even get prescribed these little purple pills that we had to take cuz we had so many bites. yeah, everyone else got eaten up but this was nuts!!!!
posted by ellen on 10-3-2008 at 3:05 pm
Matt: Have you discovered similar findings with respect to fleas? Are they attracted by smell, heat, what? When the family cat had an outbreak, my mother and I were EATEN ALIVE while my brother and dad were entirely unscathed. Just curious.
posted by Kikadee on 10-3-2008 at 3:54 pm
@Kikadee
Yes, fleas pick up chemical markers in odor the same way mosquitoes do.
For everyone who gets bitten by either pest, there’s lots of anecdotal evidence that a garlic-heavy diet can change your odor and keep them away. Worth a shot, I guess.
posted by matt on 10-3-2008 at 4:03 pm
Follow up question: are all mosquitoes attracted to the same smell or are people attractive to only some types of mosquitos and not others?
posted by GTT on 10-3-2008 at 4:08 pm
Ha! I’m one of the fortunate that gets to sit and laugh as people around me get eaten alive.
I’ve heard two things that are intriguing. One is that mosquitoes are picky about the amount of sugar in your blood. Some friends of mine are hypoglycemic and have absolutely no problems with mosquitoes. And then, today while I was standing in my kitchen, a friend told me that if you rubbed real vanilla (liquid) on your skin it will keep mosquitoes away.
Haven’t tried the second one yet, but that would be nice if it were true. ^^ Kinda sticky though.
posted by Liz on 10-3-2008 at 5:45 pm
I’ve realized for a while now that if I go outside (and I’m wearing deodorant) to mow the lawn or, really, any other activity outside, the mosquites will violently attack me and will not leave me alone. However, if I don’t wear deodorant, they leave me well enough alone. I still get some bites (stabs) but not as many as i would have. so that’s my secret, don’t wear deodorant/perfume…just make sure you shower when you get done!!
posted by Phil on 10-3-2008 at 6:20 pm
I have found that after eating garlic, they don’t bite me as much.
I grew up near a woods. A couple times, after playing there, my arms and legs were densely covered with bumps. My bumps and itching would quickly go away. My buddy, Mike, would just sit and watch them suck blood from his arm. He didn’t have any reaction to the bites, no bumps, no itching.
(’It’s the females that suck blood’ There’s an excuse for a misogynous joke there.)(haha)
posted by Tdave on 10-4-2008 at 1:58 am
Just thought I’d share…when I was a smoker (menthol) I never, ever got bitten by mosquitos. I was one of the “lucky ones.” I quit about a year and a half ago, and now the darn things will not leave me alone. I wonder if menthol is one of those scents that repel mosquitos? Whatever the case, I won’t be going back to smoking just to keep the mosquitos away. I’ll just stay inside in the A/C.
posted by Jena on 10-4-2008 at 9:33 am
See, I knew I wasnt crazy. Unfortunately I’m also one of those people who are extremely sensitive to their “stabs”. Always have been and always will be. A couple weeks ago i was bitten twice on each side of my lower right leg. Within a couple hours my whole lower leg and foot were swollen. I went to the doc the next day and she gave me steroids to calm everything down and some crutches so I could walk. How humiliating it was to tell people that I was injured by a mosquito and then get weird looks from them. It took about a week to finally go away but now I have lovely scars from my stupid scratching.
posted by Taira on 10-4-2008 at 3:02 pm
The best post mosquito bite remedy I’ve found is facial astringent! Just use a cotton ball to put some on the bites and they’re itch-free and gone fast.
posted by Christi on 10-4-2008 at 3:43 pm
I’m one of the lucky ones too. I live in Florida, yet I cannot remember the last time I was bitten by a mosquito. Therefore, I have no skeeter bite remedies to share. I just wanted to gloat, really. :-) Also, I’m pretty sure wasps will sting whatever they darn well please, but I once escaped unscathed from a barbeque beseiged by angry wasps while the people sitting at my table had 3 or 4 stings. Maybe I don’t smell bad; I just don’t smell at all.
posted by Bri on 10-8-2008 at 10:27 am
If you take garlic supplements spaced throughout the day, they won’t bite you. It’s a trick I was taught in the Army and it worked without fail even when sleeping next to swamps!
posted by Jen on 10-8-2008 at 11:50 am
I’m also one of those people that gets eaten alive the second I step outdoors. One time I went to go walk my dog in my backyard and wasn’t even 20 feet into the woods when I got bitten at least 10 times on my face. Then, as I was swatting the things away, I rolled my ankle and skinned my knee. By the time I got back indoors, I looked like some horrible Doctor Who creature. I drank half of a bottle of liquid benadry and passed out on the couch for a few hours. Good times.
The only repellent that has kind of worked for me is 100% DEET. That stuff is nasty (melting shoes and stuff), but it gets the job done.
As for the bites themselves, dab on a bit of household ammonia with a cotton ball. It is the same stuff that’s in After Bite and is much cheaper. You can refill a used up stick of it, too. I’m partial to the lemony fresh variety.
posted by KT on 10-8-2008 at 4:17 pm