Life Science

Why do mosquitoes bite some people more than others?

- asks Allison from Austin

September 10, 2007
Credit: [Oxbow Park Naturalization Project].
Credit: [Oxbow Park Naturalization Project].

Every summer, they come. They sneak through the windows and ravage your ankles; they find the one spot on your left shoulder that didn’t get drenched in a layer of DEET (God bless you, Deep Woods Off!) and gnaw, chomp, and suck away.

From May to September, many of us – covered in scars and bloody scabs, the remnants of these bites now gone bad – live side-by-side with people who, despite living in the same house and even sleeping in the same bed, are seemingly less vulnerable to the vicious six-legged predators. It turns out, a mosquito’s snacking preference for one person over another is not just a curious annoyance, it’s also a medical concern: Since malaria and other diseases are transmitted by bites, people who get bitten a lot are more likely to become ill. Because of this, researchers are working to find the mechanisms in mosquitoes that cause them to sniff out you, and not your neighbor.

Scientists have identified several proteins found in mosquitoes’ antennae and heads that latch on to chemical markers, or odorants, emitted from our skin. These markers are produced by the natural processes of our bodies and, like neon signs, they let the mosquitoes’ smell center know you’re around (though the process that then guides them to you is not well understood). Flies and mosquitoes share a number of the same genes that dictate production of these odorant-binding proteins, which have specific sites that will catch or bind with certain chemicals in the air. Some scientists suggest that certain characteristics attract mosquitoes, thereby leading us to have more bites than others. Some of the top candidates: the amount of carbon dioxide in the breath, pregnancy, body temperature, alcohol and odorant markers based on blood type.

Blood-type markers are chemicals released by people of a specific blood type – so if someone with AB blood emitted a marker, it would be different than that released by B. One study found persons with Type O blood suffered more mosquito landings because of the odorant markers they emit than any other blood type, making their juices a hot commodity for blood banks, as well as Asian Tiger Mosquitoes, which carry West Nile Virus. Not only were Type O’s more likely to be landed on, but the study found that for any blood type, people who secreted a chemical marker about their blood type through their skin (both blood type and secretor status are determined by genes) were bitten much more than non-secretors; 24 percent in the case of the Type O’s. Other researchers estimate about 15 percent of the population, based on their genes, don’t emit chemical markers of their blood type through their skin and saliva, so something else has to be calling the mosquitoes to them.

Pregnancy seems to be a big winner for mosquito attraction, probably because mothers-to-be exhale 21 percent more carbon dioxide (quite a turn-on to the six-legged species) and are on average 1.26 degrees Fahrenheit warmer around the belly than their non-pregnant counterparts, due to the temperature of amniotic fluid. Also, having just 12 ounces of beer increases your mosquito appeal, possibly because of the increase in body temperature it causes or because skin markers change when metabolizing cocktails – unfortunate since outdoor drinking is a highlight of summer anywhere.

One researcher suggested smell is unimportant, and what really matters to the mosquito currently chomping on your toe is not the smells you’re giving off, rather it’s finishing her meal without being swatted away. Because of this, she’s better off attacking “less defensive” animals, rather than more defensive, and so is evolutionarily predisposed to biting lazy or incapacitated prey (reference drinking above).

Infectious disease experts are anxious to solve the mosquito preference puzzle so they can design repellants tailored to vulnerable people, which would either block an individual’s smell signatures or disarm a mosquito’s scent receptors. Unfortunately, a specific answer to your skin-piercing question continues to itch away at scientists, and I suggest stocking up on bug repellant in the meantime.

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Discussion

409 Comments

LynseyC says:

Just another random thought about body temp…… apparently the colder we are in body temp the less we get bitten….the colder I am the more I wear…hence less skin exposed to these nasty little blood suckers…hence less bites? No? People who have raised body temps would be inclined to wear less. Not a scientific fact… more like common sense :)

Chelsea says:

I am O- and mosquitos could not be less interested in me. I am grateful to not have to wear bug spray all the time. I do know I have very good oxygen uptake. This may help. It would be nice to know why I’m so lucky, maybe diet or vitamins? I keep up on my vitamin Bs…. I have been to the Yucatan, Bahamas, Virginia and the Mid-west in the summer, and all up and down the West Coast. It is so rare that I get bit in any of these places. I did get bit as a child though.

Noelene says:

I thought as Marion post 76 that it may be to do with the Rh factor rather that the blood type. I am A- and never get bitten. She is A- and attracts mosquitos, so that theory is out the window.

kefirah says:

It seems blood type and Rh doesn’t matter.

There is a wide range of reactions such as multiple bites, cluster bites (that would be me); very large welts indicative of a stronger reaction to the mosquito “saliva” (me again) vs. those who get garden variety itchy bites; and those who even are bitten through clothing (me again).

I live in Maryland about a mile from the bay and have already fed more than a few mosquitos on just one 30-minute power walk at 6 pm yesterday (so movement doesn’t deter them from biting) after an unusually cold winter and snowy/wet couple of months with lots of snow melt and standing water.

Garlic may interfere with the host scent as some have expressed.

And some of us experience something midlife that changes are bite frequency too.

Replentents work, and sometimes not. hmmmmm…. I wonder if it might be the strain or species of mosquito that is the key. Could it be that some strains of mosquitoes indigenous to an area go after some people, but not others? And that repellents are ineffective against some strains, but not others?

Aveeno baths, hydrocortison creams, ice packs, and benadryl make up my drug store list from March through late October for me every year….

Arwel Jones says:

I don’t know what blood type i am because i don’t like needles, i get bits around my leg area more than anywhere else does this mean anything? thank you!

Em says:

I do not know my blood type but i know that my mum is O- and my dad is O positive and they dont get bitten at all!
No mosquito creams work for me and i can’t take tablets so i don’t know what to do about these annoying lumps!
All the comments are defing all the articles i’ve seen and I just wish there was a logical explanation!

Please help.

Shannon says:

my honey is o neg, he never gets bit…. I and my 4 children all are o pos..we get eaten alive…you do the math…we are delicious

Rabindra Chauhan says:

I am Rabindra Chauhan from India, my Blood group is AB+ and I am always sucked by mosquitos, to be frank I was in the search such article or research so that I can know the real problem. No other of friends are really get mosquito bites as me. Please publish some exclusive report on AB+ group…Thank You

junior says:

okey let me use some common sense here.. I’m in the army and we are deployed to Iraq and I been bitten a lot by mosquitos here they are big and they are a lot so I know about mosquitos trust me when I say… I’m pretty sure that hydration has a lot to do with this mosquitos’s radar.. meaning they find you easier and more exquisite you more than other people in the same room… If you analize this and compare the information that has been researched by the scientists so far and common sense we can make up a reasonable explanation since they are inconclusive on the reason why some people get bitten by mosquitos more that others.. here in Iraq I have been drinking so much water than I can remember so I sweat more than when I was in the states !!! and when you are hydrated you sweat more than when you are not…heat has nothing to do with moskitoes finding you they don’t have heat sensitive goggles. Its you! is the water in your body evaporating. been hotter makes you sweat or evaporate your body water and with the water goes all that the researchers say too.. CHEMICAL MARKERS goes faster when you are hydrated and hot than a person with less body water and cooler than you.. if you are the only food in the room that ca detected, guess what? you gonna be eatten!!! does that make sense to you? okey…if that doesn’t I’ll give you this other escenario on how you can be conspicuous by mosquitos… put your sweat pants and sweter and go running at night, make sure you are well hydrated and the temperature outside is not hot. the colder the better and stop in front of a car with the head lights on… you gonna see your skin like a wet and hot towel taken out of a microwave. If you have another person do this so you can see it from a couple of feet will work better, have that person stand between you and the car with the headlights on. this is what moskitoes smell!! I don’t think is your cologne or perfume, axe body spray or victoria secret body spray neither

junior says:

If any body at a university wants to really use this theory and do the actual research and then get back at me with results but I really think this is the best explanation for the dilemma. Yunior_754@hotmail

junior says:

do not send any coments about my spelling I know it sucks… and i know how to spell mosquito I just like to write it like that moskitoes so yeahh the water in you and your blood type it is… if you are type O and don’t get bit by those try when your body is fully hydrated and you have eatten something delicious for them then get back to me on the result.

Buggy says:

I do not believe that blood type has ANYTHING to do with getting bitten. I am A+ and get bitten all the time in the summer. Once, during a family reunion, I stepped outside (after applying mosquito repellent) to join the rest of my family (none of whom had a drop of repellent on them) who had been outside for hours and had to go back inside within the first 2 or 3 minutes because of the 6 mosquito bites I had! And later when they all came back inside, still none of them had any bites! My mom always jokes that when I’m around, she never needs any sort repellent.

Sageland says:

Blood type O,husband A,live next door to grandchildren type A. Always tought blood types might have a correlation to bites but it is confusing to say the least. I believe maybe like the guy that worked for the conservation district and had built up an immunity? They land on me big time while I’m out spraying them but the bites don’t swell up. My grandkids get bit up so bad ( they’re little,soft skin and no immunity yet? A child of mine when he was about a year old was bit up while he was asleep and he looked horrible. Now hes 18 and is out working in the fields doing farm work and they don’t really bother him as much. I’d like to find out more research on people in mosquito infested countries and yes, why can’t this be pinned down more. Theres alot of mosquitos and alot of people. Wheres the real answers?

peg says:

My husband, blood type A+ body temp runs hot, you can warm cold hands just by holding them near him. He NEVER gets bitten.
I am type A- average body temp 97.2. I manage to attract every mosquito in a 5 mile radius and each one of them thinks its Thanksgiving and I am the full feast from turkey to pumpkin pie. I get fewer bites when I use repellant, but still more than others around me.
Neither of us use alcohol at all nor are either of us pregnant. So, either there are holes in this theory or we are the exceptions that make it a rule.

suzzi says:

I’m B- and mosquitos attack me every chance they get… my husband, sitting right beside me is never bitten! I’ve always wondered why they liked me soooooooo much! My bites swell up about 4 inches across and sometimes leave a brown bruise-ish looking mark before disapearing.

Bryan says:

I dont know my blood type but like everytime I come and visit my family in mexico around the summer time, I get bitten like 6, sometimes even more like when I woke up today I had a total about 10 bite marks around my legs and arms and I think I have like two more and everyone else doesnt get bite marks but me. Also do you think its true that washing your body with water and sand from the beach makes them non-ichi and helps get rid of the bug bites?

joseph says:

This article is wrong. I’m o+, and when I’m drunk not one bite, while all my friends are eaten alive. But when I’m sober its like the 6 doller buffet outside of a curves.

Madeleine says:

I think that the temperature theory might be right. When I was younger I used to have the same body temperature as most people (99,5 F). I constantly got bitten almost every day and to make matters worse I was allergic to mosquitoes. I could count to over 30-40 bites most days and they were all very big, red and itchy.
A few years ago, though, I got hypothyreosis and since then my body temperature is a bit on the low side (96,8 F) and I still get bitten but not nearly as much. Only two bites this year and it seems like I’m not as allergic to mosquitoes as I was before, either.
I don’t think it matters, but my blood type is AB-.

Meg Johnson says:

Thanks so much for posting this artcicle. I probably have been bitten by 40, 000 mosquitoes by the end of the summer. It’s insane and at the moment I do not know my blood type but I would like to find out to see if that’s the reason. My friend’s mom told me that Mosquitoes are attracted to “healthier blood” and it makes sense but didn’t know how. SO I researched to see if there were any prooven factors as to why this ALWAYS happens to me. SO the CO2 levels seem like a definetly accurate idea, being the more active the more co2 and in the summer’s that’s me esspecially. SO thanks again for your article.

Wu Ming says:

So interesting! I’m O negative and mosquitoes don’t bother me but eat my spouse alive if they’re around; but one child is O negative also and seems to get bitten as much as most people. I’ve always assumed mosquitoes like them because they both are much warmer than I am– I tend to be so cold (low blood pressure) while they are both like furnaces.

Michelle says:

Buy a small bottle of citronella. dab a little on shoe or sandle near ankles and perhaps on something like hairband, ribben or something. It has realy made a difference to not getting bitten so much. I always carry a little bottle around to add to tea lights and the smell is not bad either. Clarityn tablets help with reaction

Lori Muir says:

OK, after reading all this I have it figured out.

Blood type is not as important as the HEAT you give off.

I used to never get bit with 0 negative blood, but I never used to sweat that much either, very rarely…that is until MENOPAUSE.

My husband does not have O, but he sweats, or used to, rolling down his head after 10 minutes out side….and I could not take him anywhere in the heat without him getting eaten alive.

Now the tables are turned, its me they prefer, because I am hot all the time and sweat easily.

James says:

I am interested in the ethnicity of the people who get bites and who do not get a single bite along with your bloody type and weight, height, and gender.

Terrie says:

I am type O neg and very, very rarely get bitten. My parter (who does not know her blood type) is constantly getting bitten. So much for the O factor. We could be standing side by side and they just love attacking her.

Tracey says:

I am rhesus negative blood type and have never been bitten in my life even though I’ve lived all over Africa – the mosquitoes just avoid me.

Shana says:

I have read almost all these comments and have to agree with the amount of heat a body puts off and as I am sure there are other triggers to mosquitos. I usually have 80+ on each leg (from calf to toe) I can wear heavy canvas pants, socks and shoes (they won’t bite through the shoes)they will bite through everything I wear… I have them in my hair, face, in between my fingers and toes, and even on my bumm. I joke that I am meth for mosquitos. I have used every type of spray, cream, oil and lotion …. I have taken B vitamins and garlic…..with no relief at all. I have even used the bug spray that we use on the horses and cows…. it helps alittle but they will bite me through that as well. (Please don’t do it… it is toxic!) The only thing that brings relief from the bites is salt water and sunshine. To those who live near the sea Praise God! go take a dip and soak up some sunshine. To those of us land locked break out the mineral salts and run a bath. I make it a very strong solution and if they are really bad will rub the salt directly on the legs and arms and let it sit for a few minutes. Yeah it burns like heck…but it does seem to relieve some of the irritation. I then rub a combination of Hydrocortizone (strongest you can find… ask Dr.) and Triple Antibiotic Ointment. This does heal the welts and broken skin faster. If someone is keeping an eye on the stats of these posts… I am O-, fair skinned, and have a warmer than average body temp, I also tend to sweat easy. We live near a river and have swarms of mosquitos. I will be checking back to see if anone has more suggestions ……

Richard 1972 says:

I am o+ and have never been bitten, my grandfather had malaria from the 2nd world war and my doctor at the time after taking anti malaria tablets said that i could have some kind of antiboby

Richard 1972 says:

Had to post this as i worked out in san tome in 2000 and me and my mate sat outside a bar and he watched the little bastards land on my legs for a few moments and just fly away, do a lap of the bar, land on him and start sucking!!!!

Tamaara says:

Interestingly it seems that people who get bitten have chosen mates (partners) who do not?? Maybe there are pheromones that we select for, even in this case! I by the way, do not get bitten- they hover over me- rarely land (The only type of mosquito to feast on me was in japan it has White striped legs) growing up I was bitten and had terrible swollen painful bites. My husband, for the record, gets eaten alive by everything!!

Jane says:

this is quite interesting, even for me who does not know wht her blood type really is ((supposedly an o))… I get bitten every summer, and sometimes it just itches and the other it doesnt at a certain time of day in the summer… be it the afternoon to 3pm, when its really hot, the fan is on, drinking something super cold like the usual ((even in winter too… i just dont know y i dislike drinking something hot or warm…)) THIS IS JUST WHERE IT STARTS… when my skin becomes sweaty and hot, they come eating me alive… when my skin gets goosebumps or dehydrated or cold ((yes, in the coldest room available where they shouldnt reach at all)) i dont feel like they bit me at all and most often it doesnt itch at all at first….. O.o
And it also sucks to be the target… -_-;; I live in a family of 6 ((me, older brother, parents and grandparents))… everytime theres a mosquito in the house, they come looking for me instead of the others… my parents get bitten seldom… the others none “just cuz theyre mostly around cigarettes”!?!? You see, i hear tht bugs including these dislike smoke and tends to get away… btw, i never saw my bro get bitten, but if he sees one he wouldve smacked it dead ((in all possible corners and places, except cobwebs))…
Just to say wht i think, i think tht ppl who are o- and o+ are like just opposite preferences for a bloodsucking mosquitio… even if u are an o and u dont kno whether ur + or -, might as well think how mosquitoes get to ur place first and then onto u… for me, w/o a doubt its the front and back door thts open at a certain time for a certain amount of time……… UGH….
Anyways, thank you for posting something interesting, peeps~ =D

Tom says:

For most of my life I was bitten occasionally but not a lot, despite having an outside job in the woods. My body temperature ran about a degree below average normal (97.6 instead o 98.6). A couple of years ago, I learned that I had hypothyroidism, one or the symptoms of which is low body temperature. I am now taking 95mg per day of porcine thyroid extract. This summer I have been bitten dozens of times in a single day. I also have received most of my bites where the skin is thinnest (forearms, side of neck, etc.). Maybe body temperature really is one of the things that attract biting insects. I think I’ll start eating garlic and see if that helps.

Jme says:

My wife, daughter and myself (Californians) went vacation to Bremerton,WA a week ago and noticed that 3 of us got bitten but not the people we visited. Perhaps, these bugs like new blood? It is like new dishes on the dining table haha.

Jme, August 24, 2010 7:24am

Crazy says:

Hey there Gang, I’m O negative, I’m always’s HOT like a furnace, don’t like the heat or sun. I know my skin temperature is warmer than other’s. Cause they where jacket’s, and I’m still in my T-shirt. But i don’t sweat as much as other people, when other people do. I am Caucasian but i hardly ever drink at all, maybe twice a month. Ok(Listen)i get bit up so dang much, every little insect. Mosquito, Fly, Flea, Spider, Asian beetle, Leech, Centipede, Chigger’s, Louse, Scabies, Crab’s, Wood tick, Etc. I can come in from one night at a camp fire, with my body doused in bug spray! My friend’s might have 2 bite’s. I will keep getting outbreak’s for 5 day’s!!!! 30 bite’s on my leg’s, neck, and arm’s, mostly by the elbow’s! So i just don’t go outside no more at dusk. (8:00-10:30) One weird occasion~ my Son and i living together, Same blood line! Had an outbreak of cat flea’s, had to bomb the house. I got bit over 100 time’s. How many for him, a couple? So some thing’s that might be different from what people are saying here? I Love to eat a lot, Mushroom’s, Onion’s, Bread, Milk. But only my gut is obese, my arm’s and Leg’s are normal where they like to bite. Have sweet underarm deodorant, sit still (relax), and i can feel every tiny thing on my skin. But hey one thing i know for a fact. I was cooking hamburgers in a cabin, out in the deep wood’s. The smoke was only going out one window. The screen was loaded with over 600 Mosquito’s, but absolutely zero on all 3 other window screen’s. They can smell the blood from the burger!!!!!!!! So may~bey they bite me so much more, cause my blood is closer to the outer layer of skin? And if they can smell my food closer to the surface also? I have also tried Garlic.

Caitlin says:

I am type O Negative and I do NOT get bit. I also have the blood disorder ITP that someone mentioned above and they said they get bit all the time, well again I have that and do NOT get bit…..You know what makes sense?? Some of us have a gene that causes us to give off certain chemicals that repel mosquitoes and some of us don’t have that gene. It’s natural selection. As in how some people carry genes that kills the malaria virus and some don’t. This is needed in some areas, like parts of Africa, for the people to even survive OR malaria would wipe them out. Same thing goes for the Black Plague; a third of the population was killed, but the survivors carried a gene, I think it’s called Delta 32, that destroyed the sickness; without that gene everyone would have died. Therefore, mosquitoes carry diseases which are a threat to humans, if everyone in the world couldn’t repel mosquitoes in some way, if everyone in the world didn’t carry a gene for it that they could pass to their young for generations and generations of human survival…then some parts of the world, or maybe all parts of the world, wouldn’t be able to survive. It just is what it is people, you may not carry the gene to repel mosquitoes, but you might carry the gene that kills aids, or malaria, or whatever else.

azallie says:

My husband and I are both “O” blood types yet I am a mosquito magnet and he is not. I am so frustrated whenever we travel I end up with welts all over my body and he has none. I realize there must be something different in our chemical makeups otherwise it just doesn’t make any sense. Just yesterday, we were in a situation where there were a few mosquitos and I can count today, I have 9 bits and he has 0. I must admit, I do not use insect sprays on my body, which I have to start doing. It’s an awlful thought that every time I go outside I have to lather up with insect replent. There has to be an alternative.

Megan says:

I don’t know how they concluded that study. I’m type O and I rarely get bitten while my boyfriend is type B and he always gets bitten.

Werason says:

I’m a type AB(+) and I get bitten every time if it happens that I’m late outside and in their presence. It’s pestering that they’ll always come for me in the midst of other people. It’s one thing am eager to know why, not found satisfactory reason.

Jonathan says:

I have B- blood, i drink everyday after work, and i’ve been out and a bout in areas so clogged with mosquittos that i’ve got landed on many a time, but not a single bite. i got bites as a kid, but it decreased when i hit puberty at 17 or so, and at 25 or 26 i haven’t had a bite since, oh and i also don’t like sweets much, they build up for me like when you eat something spicy, the same thing happens for sweets with me, so there really isn’t a point in getting a candy bar/slice of cake if your only having a bite…

so hence my question?…

wtf?

karen says:

hello everyone. i have always been biten by these pesty blood suckers. and i to get attacked before i even get the door closed good. i hate it . i love outside. i am O+ body temp runs 97.3 i am female, whilte and 47. it does seem the bite have increased the older i have gotten. a friend told me my cholestoral must be high the bugs love the stuff. anyone heard anything bout this being a possible cause. by boyfriend takes cholestoral lowering drugs and never get bit. just a thought.. maybe we should all have ours checked.

patrick says:

on holiday recently in goa we stayed with some friend who have lots of land whith cabins and a huge lake 20 yds away , having slept under the mosquito net all night i needed to go to outside bathroom at about 6-30 am yes thats right dawn during my short stay i looked down onto my cream trousers and counted close to 20 mozzis per leg . where were the rest i thought . oh my they were everywhere and i mean everywhere. they say that the mosquito will go for the thin skin on the foot,but i was wearing slippers the next area is the hands and then the privates yes the groin,10 -20 bites lots of blood there. lesson to be learnt bathroom only when the sun is high in the sky. happy holidays

Lisa says:

I am O+ and I am constantly getting bit by mosquitoes.

Teresa says:

I am 35 and O – and I am currently covered in bites, which increase in number every day because of where I live and work. I manage a hotel that is surrounded by bush over looking a Lake and now that it is spring I wake up with more everyday very fustrating because they swell up and ache, I even remember going camping when I was young and counting over 100 bites on my arms. It drives me crazy, today I have been googling how to ellimante these bites no one elses seems to get biten if I am around. My partner went out this evening at dusk and had they landing on him and not one bite …..

omoron says:

my friend and i live in one room.my friend is not bitten by mosquitoes and bed bugs.when a mosquito bite him it is killed by itself.i asked him why mosquito does not bite him?he replied that every year in spring season ,he drinks the decoction of indian herb [chariata] for 1 or 2 days.and so he is never bitten by bed bugs and mosquitos

kris says:

i have sensitive skin. i easily get allergic reactions from mosquitos… i got mosquito bites most of the time. =( … and im currently living under tropical location, a breeding ground for mosquitoes.. i hope there are other ways to prevent being bitten, other than DEET lotions..

i think maybe, these ways the mosquitoes pick their victims, as i observed.. they are the following:

d.) glucose factor – maybe they tend to look for targets whose blood rich in glucose content, coz glucose is energy. thus making them alive and filled with energy. glucose can easily release energy providing heat. blood + glucose

b) person who sweats / or “on heat” – if the person usually sweats, that means the body is on heat, thus making the person an easy target. if heat is detected, that means blood is fresh, and thermal. if they get cold blood, it would not be easy for them coz the blood is going to coagulate.

c) CO2, h20 and oxygen – most mosquitoes dwell in plants(like tropical areas) and stagnant water. may prove significant.. they do need water, just like living plants and animals do.

d) skin type – after they found a prey, they determine the skin type, usually sensitive skin, or pale skin, and thin skins. so that it would be easier for them to bite. if skin is thin, they can easily attack without trying too hard with their teeth.

e) people who wear dark colors – maybe they have eye sensors/multi sensors that can detect heat through dark backgrounds.. if someone wears white/light clothes or in lighted areas, their ability to detect preys can be frustrating

i’m not sure about this, but maybe.. as pointed in the previous posts, (thanks to you) above and recent searches i did over the internet. i could be wrong. ;)

i might as well try to take chariata as posted above in a week and see what happens, it might help. i searched about chariata, and it says it lowers down glucose.. this might solve our problems! :)

mozziekiller says:

I’m O+ & male & I’m constantly bitten by mozzies. My mum & sister having A blood-type are not bitten despite walking with me through the forested area. I’m wearing light-coloured shirt so that rules out the reason why I’m bitten.
Could it be a combination of blood-type O+ & being male with male pheromones that make me a magnet for mosquitoes? After all, only female mosquitoes bite.

Patsy McLamb says:

A- blood. fair skinned -tried high protein diet and then veggie diet,Didnt work. EATEN ALIVE by all insects. I am now battling ticks who bite me with gusto and my son gets no bites . I am now getting bitten by TICKS INSIDE the house. He has no bites.Im SURE it is a chemistry problem. But why on earth doesnt someone figure this out? They could make a fortune. I am going to try the chariata. Dont even know what it is but who knows when your lucky number will come up? Enjoyed the comments. At least I have some company with this terrible malady. Modern science or drug manufacturers should see some money in this? But maybe not enough.Lord have mercy on us all

Victor Ochoa says:

I am a blood type AB+ and i still get bit very much from mosquitoes, i think it doesn’t matter which blood type you have. but hey everyone has there own theory and beliefs.

MALCOM ALEX says:

BECAUSE MOSQUITOES DONT BITE APES, Oh, yes….. this is the subject of evolution. Many published studies over recent years have shown that chimpanzees mostly have Blood type A, almost no Blood type O, but never Blood type B. The other great ape, the gorilla has Blood type B, almost no Blood type O, but never Blood type A. In these ‘man-apes’ species, said to be the ancestors of man, there is NO Blood type AB in either. Generally speaking, man has both Blood types A and B, and Blood type AB. Blood type O, in man is by far the most common in virtually every racial group.

blobie says:

i dont kno my blood type i never got bitten by mosqitos

Snoop dowgy dowg says:

I get bitten by mosquitos all the time when im in the same room as my brother who does not, even with repellent.

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