ON THE CUTTING EDGE: Why Some People Are More Prone To Mosquito Bites
Just in time for Labor Day, the symbolic end of summer, The Wall Street Journal interviews a researcher at Rothamsted Research in the U.K who explains why mosquitoes avoid some people and attack others:
[S]cientists … have identified a handful of the body's chemical odors - some of which may be related to stress - that are present in significantly larger concentrations in people that the bugs are happier to leave alone. If efforts to synthesize these particular chemicals are successful, the result could be an all-natural mosquito repellent that is more effective and safer than products currently available.
"Mosquitoes fly through an aerial soup of chemicals, but can home in on those that draw them to humans," says James Logan, a researcher at Rothamsted, one of the world's oldest agricultural-research institutions. But when the combination of human odors is wrong, he says, "the mosquito fails to recognize this signal as a potential blood meal." …
Rothamsted’s Dr. Logan says the answer isn't to be found in attractant chemicals. He and colleagues observed that everyone produces chemicals that mosquitoes like, but those who are unattractive to mosquitoes produce more of certain chemicals that repel them.
So the next time you find yourself in the Great Outdoors during mosquito season, start stressing out about how many of the nasty buggers might bite you and you just may keep them at bay. Oh, and bring a can of DEET-containing repellent, just in case that mind-over-matter thing doesn't quite work out.
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