If when you are with a group of people, mosquitoes only bite you and not others, surely you have wondered what you have done to have such bad luck.Science explains it to you!
Popular legend says that mosquitoes bite people with the sweetest blood , but this has nothing to do with reality.Mosquitoes bite some people more than others by different causes.
Carbon dioxide
According to a study published by Nature, mosquitoes have olfactory cells called CPA neurons , which are capable of detecting the amount of carbon dioxide we emit, one of the main factors that they take into account when selecting their victims.
A human being generates every day around of a kilogram of CO2 , and every time you exhale, about 13 times per minute, it produces more than one hundred milligrams, although the exact amount depends on the metabolism, diet and physical exercise performed by the person in question.
For mosquitoes, a greater amount of carbon dioxide means that there is a lot of fresh blood to that attack, therefore, select the people who emit more CO2.
With age, these amounts increase, being smaller in children, although the queens in CO2 emission are the pregnant , especially in their last stage where they can produce up to 21% more carbon dioxide .
Sweat and smell at feet
The same CPA neurons can also detect the odors of human skin, to choose the people who give off the ones that attract them most.
Among them lactic acid, which we emit when breathing and sweating, and which is It is more present in the taller people and in pregnant women.
Therefore, sweat is another element that attracts the most mosquitoes.If we have just exercised or it is very hot and we are sweating, we will multiply our chances of receiving bites.
In fact, sweat on summer nights is the main reason why we get ached while we sleep.Experts advise taking a shower before bedtime to avoid bites.
Another of the scents of mosquito favorites, scientists at Wageningen University in the Netherlands have shown , is the smell of feet , which, in addition, is the favorite of the 'Anopheles gambiae', the transmitter of malaria, so we must monitor our hygiene.
Genet ica
A study by James Logan and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, highlighted that the fact that we attract more mosquitoes is conditioned to the molecules that form our own body odor.
While there are some people who produce natural repellents, others have an odor that inevitably attracts mosquitoes to them.
Blood group
The 'Journal of Medical Entomology' published an investigation in which it was found that mosquitoes bite people twice with blood type O that those who have blood from group A.
On the other hand, the people of the blood group B are located in the intermediate zone between both in terms of number of bites.
Cer veza
Although it seems incredible, a study that was released in the 'Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association', proved that if you drink beer is more likely Let the mosquitoes go to you if you don't.
How to avoid mosquitoes?
To avoid mosquitoes, we can buy some antimicrobial plants , such as sage, which acts as a repellent, or rub our skin with eucalyptus, cumin, thyme or cinnamon that usually deter them.
It is also convenient not to use perfume or colognes, especially with sweet and floral smells, or use creams or lotions containing lactic acid.
So you know, try to maintain your body hygiene without perfumes or lotions and control yourself when it comes to beer to manage to keep as far away Possible to mosquitoes.
If you found it interesting, check out "They are annoying, but...What would happen if the mosquitoes died out?".
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