Why do mosquitoes bite some people more than others?
- asks Allison from Austin
Meredith Knight • September 10, 2007
![Credit: [Oxbow Park Naturalization Project].](https://scienceline.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/mosquito.jpg)
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.
409 Comments
Thank you soo much for the informations. Now I understand why i get bitten soo much everyday i will get few here and there. I get soo frustrated over it and decided to looked up on internet. Well i am not only Type O blood i am also Pregnant this is why i get bitten everyday at all times….
I’m sat online reading this article because I can’t sleep. Staying with family, forgot the repellent and everytime I try sleep, I hear that annoying little whiny buzz in my ear and soon I’m bitten and itching all over. About 20 bites so far this evening and not a minute of sleep. Doesn’t matter what I wear, I can even lie completely covered in my sheets and they just bite through. If I use any kind of skin repellant, they just find the spot I missed and I end up with bitten lips, ears and eyelids. I live in South Africa, Spring through to Autumn me and my two sons get eaten alive and guess what? My husband gets none or very few. My husband has a much warmer body temp than me, my kids average. Blood groups all different. Not pregnant, vegetarian but my sons and husband eat meat. Sadly, having sat here and read this article and comments through, I’m none the wiser and I really wish I’d found a cure!! Although it did distract me from my bites for a short while.
The only factual observations I can make after 40 years of being mosquito chow;
1. My kids and I get bitten at night most, while we sleep or try to sleep, and the ONLY thing that can prevent it is a plug in mossie killer plugged in a good hour or so before we go to bed. Keep windows closed. There’s nothing that will stop us getting bitten outside in the evenings or early morning so we just avoid it at all costs.
2. Different types of mossie can cause more problems; we’ve found one type with black & white legs is particularly vicious? Anyone know why?
I wish somebody could figure it out, any more diet info – love to know if garlic works. Hey, f@*k it, love to know if ANYTHING works.
How frustrating! Over three years, 152 comments, and only one article addressing the reasons some people are magnets for blood sucking insects. mosquitos, no-see-ums, certain flies, and the Red Cross– they all like my blood. As a universal giver I don’t mind giving to the Red Cross. I don’t even want to see the demise of the insects. I just want to prevent being bitten. There must be a scientist in a lab somewhere that is interested in making a lot of money. I would be like a kid on vacation and spend every dime in my pocket for relief from irritating and oozing bites. In the meantime, I am going to try the garlic treatment since none of the scientific studies up to 2007 seem to have any answers.
So I’m A positive blood type and mosquitos, fleas and grass bugs love biting me! Its sooooo annoying to say the least, I went to the park to walk my dog I was wearin jeans a sweater tennis shoes and they still found a way to bite me on my arms and thighs and hands its ridiculous they need to find the real reason and solution stat! : ( until then they continue to feast on me!
If you are the type who react strongly to insect bites – site becomes red and swells, feeling hot and itching or even burning, homeopathic remedy, Apis 30c can help. To reduce the symptoms take every 1/2 hour till the itching subsides max 5 times. Ledum 30C can also help with bites that itch but aren’t swollen and red. Apis and Ledum antidote each other as I discovered when I took first apis for a bee sting and then ledum the next day for an ant bite – the site of the sting started to itch and burn. I repeated the apis and sting was better. Caladium 12c is a remedy that can make a person unattractive to mosquitoes, but also makes cigarettes taste horrible. I recommended it to my son’s horse riding teacher as she is always being bitten and she told me she started to dislike cigarettes, when I looked in the materia medica it was also noted there the dislike of cigarettes. Hope this helps some people.
wow i didn’t know that, p.s i am really in school im just a bit smart….
lol
I realize this thread is really old, but have any of you tried Cutter’s bug repellant? I get eaten alive if I don’t use it, but am totally protected if I do. OFF is a joke, as well as Skin So Soft. And my blood type is O+.
I am agreed to the theory and with Allsion. And i also appreciate Angela to give a good solution by using the homeopathic medicines and cure yourself from mosquitoes biting as well as get rid of nicotine.
I have recently moved to Dubai and I seem to get bitten all the time from mosquito’s and take a bad reaction to them my foot is really swollen and itchy so annoying.
Its funny as my husband dont seem to get bitten nor does my youngest son, it only seems to be myself and my oldest son….. now a may be wrong but me and my son both have red hair could that have anything to do with it plus I am A+ blood type. why o why o why do I keep getting bitten????
I just found out that not only is type O a hot commodity for mosquitos but also the darker color of what you wear and skin tone attract mosquitos. That why when you see a gardner wearing a lighter color its not to help the plants (i don’t think) but to keep away those pesky blood suckers…
It’s funny but seems like the medications I’m on seem to have a lot to do with it…when my doctor upped my divalproex they didn’t bite me quite so much anymore. But then when he switched it to xr they showed some renewed interest…same with the seroquel. Now I don’t call myself an expert or anything but I do so hate anecdotal evidence and how suddenly everyone’s an expert right…well when I went off my fanapt, i started getting bitten all the time and especially at night! After a few days…well the mosquitoes became bigger…I asked them once but as it turns out they only speak russian.
My dad has always been bit by fleas &Mosquitos (he is O positive) I have been blessed with the same attractivness with these vampires ( I am A positive a given because my mom is A positive) and these blood suckers dine on me as much or more than my dad. I think that fleas are the worst as they are more insidious and let’s face it there is more shame when you share with others that fleas dine on you! My legs bear many scars from previous attacks & am well aware that I should not scratch but I cannot help what I do in my crazed sleep state at night! My reactions to flea bites look more like what one would think a spider bite might be and if I dare to scratch, I get a huge ugly bruse around the bite area- not attractive for a ladys leggs! I just returned from Florida with a group of professionals and I was the only one that I know of that was tormented by “sand fleas” it looks like I have a disease especially if I’ve scratched and pus is on the bite. One year along time ago (before treatments for animals came out like Frontline, I was so tormented by this that when I happened to nail a flea that jumped on me I would grab it between my thumb And finger and drown it in “Compound W” just to make it suffer, I was at my limit!!
Im O- and I get bitten alot more than my family of different blood types
My body tempature is 96.8 and i never get bit and my carbon dioxide is low my grand mother was the sam way she lived on an house boat in the Atchafalaya Basin
same
I am from Tanzania East Africa and i have been bitten by mosquito even during the daytime.It was so hard for me to explain but now according to this post i got some clues on why mosquito prefer by blood compared to other people.The explanation is interesting but further investigation should be done and if possible to isolate genes from individuals who are malaria resistant and transfer to our susceptible bodies.I am sure science can do this what we only need is enough information and the mechanism behind.
Im type O+and in one day I get as many as 15 if not more bites per day..my husband is ab and he can stand right next to me and never get bitten…look forward to this summer being pregnant and with a temperature..
I spent 2 weeks in Dakar Senegal and didn’t get bit by one mosquito but they love me in Connecticut USA. I have B+ blood. My husband gets bit but they don’t itch. I hate him for that!
I knew it was the alchohol, party and me being there mobile kegger..lol . I get tore up way worse than everyone around me, it sucks even with a way lot of bug spray..kind of wondered if surgeries that you are given someone elses blood could make a difference also?
thanx 4 the article ahh they really hurts
My family and I went camping last summer near a lake. All the memembers of my family got a few mosquito bites here and there, maybe four at most. Except for me. I got 47 bites total. I counted. They were all over my arms and legs, and I looked like I had the plague. Luckily I don’t live in an area that has mosquitos but when we go on vacation somewhere that does this ALWAYS happens.
I used to live in Thailand/Cambodia a few years back and the locals told me to stop eating banana’s as they have some chemical that leaches from your skin and is an attractant to those pesky little creatures.
Several years ago I did a report in college concerning DDT. From what I found out, DDT is safe for humans and nature but it was a dispute between two competing insecticide companies. While in the AF they would issue us small cans of it to spray inside our aircraft prior to landing and give us spray cans to use in our rooms when we went to Southeast Asia. When DDT was legal, Malaria was practicly wiped out. There were less than 5,000 cases a year through-out the world. A few years later and today, there are over 60,000 cases a year. Please don’t beleive all the hype you read about it. Though nothing is totally safe, it is much safer than Sevin or other stuff thats still in use. We need to bring it back. Do any of you remember when they would drive around fogging the neighborhood? I was a kid back then and I do and that was DDT and I never heard of anyone developing some wierd disease or birth defects and we would have fun running THROUGH the fog….If you’re worried about the diseases mosquito’s carry, then you should write your congress person and have then re-evaluate it and then legalize it for household use.
This is indeed a weird phenomenon! My husband and I both have type O blood. I rarely get bitten but he does! Once on vacation we went for a romantic stroll and he came back just covered with mosquito bites, but I had perhaps one. Same thing with my last boyfriend, I’m not sure what his blood type was, but he was a big drinker. Any time there were mosquitos in the area he’d get bitten, but not me!
I have high iron levels (beyond high in fact) and I have Factor V Leiden (which is a blood clotting disorder). These issues are genetic and I am positive that I get eaten alive every year (as does my Mom) because of our blood disorders…………I am A+. Last summer I sat out one evening with my dad and I got 50 bites in a couple hours and he had NONE!!!! I think they like my thicker blood that is very iron rich. These are both problems for me but they may be seen as appetizing to mosquitos sadly. We all know that iron in the blood has a distinct smell and I think that mosquitos can smell that which makes me a target. I’d be curious to know if other people with either high iron levels or clotting disorders have major problems with mosquito bites! Also, one woman wrote above that her bites are unbearably itchy and end up looking like bee stings – I hear ya!!!!!!! So for me (and my Mom) it;s not just about the frequency of the botes it’s also about the intensity.
I have 6 brothers and sisters and NONE of them get eaten up as much as me. Can anyone explain this?!?
i battle mosquitoes every single day…they follow me and if i am in pajamas or dress socks with a thin layer of fabric over my skin some how i get bitten…so then ive been told that its what my body gives off…i take a shower come back not even one minute i get bitten…unless im moving they wont bite…im not obese or fat at all but rather at a healthy weight, nor do i breath heavy(how do you know? well i breath through my nose Not my mouth even when i sleep because ive told my brother to tell me because he has seen me sleep), but i am the type that wont move while sleeping or standing and also i am a “warm” person meaning i like the cold a lot…where ever i may be they love me no one else out of the other 5 people here living…
I have Blood type A-,so that blows blood type out of the water-because no-one has mentioned blood type A-.My husband is type O+ and he does get bitten but not enough to makes sense of the O blood type theory. So I don’t think its blood type at all. I do have asthma and allergies so that one is a possibility. I do believe in the predator effect because in the sun they don’t seem to be as bad. No matter what I get eaten alive and then the bite swells to a whelp the size of a fifty cent piece and then turns to a bruise that lasts for weeks as far as the itching Bennedryl gel stops the swelling and itching after a few applications.. Mosquito repellent really doesn’t help prevent the bites. I am more likely to agree with the theory of maybe emittions of a favourable feast smell from certain people. Once they isolate that pheromone they will have a solution to why mosquitoes bite or annihilate certain people.
I am 0+ and i got 4-5 bites in my life.And i am 18. WHY I DON”T GET BITTEN!!!!
It’s not that i want but this blood tyupes theory is wrong.
And… that picture is wrong… Haven’t seen mosquito like that one in years!!!
These are new… they are black and have white lines on their legs and body.
Diet: high calorie, plenty of white meat (almost never red) and sugar
Metabolism: very high
Blood type: O+
Exercise: 7 hours+ cardio a week / 4 hours+ weight lifting
Skin: fair
Smoke/drink: pack a day, six pack at least once a week
Stature: 5’10, 165 pounds, medium frame.
Caucasian of German descent.
Now, here’s the thing. The above descriptions fit both my father and I. The biggest difference between our physical appearance and anything listed above is that the veins in my arms are much more visible. He almost never gets bit. I get bit very often. Here’s the kicker: only one of every thirty or so bites ISN’T on my arms.
Also, last week after a more-intense-than-usual leg workout, my veins were showing a lot more than usual and, go figure, once I went outside they were comin’ straight for my legs.
I have a theory: DIET.
Doesn’t that make sense? The blood will have different levels of nutrients, and therefore will smell different to mosquitoes. And apparently drinking Apple Cider Vinegar will help deter these nasty ol’ buggers.
Just a 16 year old’s input. :)
I am type O and over 40 and I don’t remember when the last time I was bitten even when I was in an area that was infested with thousand of them. I guess I am lucky!
Every single night I put on about 3 soild layers of deep wood off before I go to sleep. Also put on the ac and put on a blanket. And in the night{This is a sleeping disorder put i am treated} I put on another 3 layers. The first time I put the off on and then wake up to put more I see some on my leg near my ankle. I thought it was bed bugs, but it was not. {I did not know it was mosquite until moring.} So after wakeing up with 3 other three layers I saw more and I did the exact some thing i DID AT FIRST. wHY IS THIS Happening to me?????
i can watch them land on me all day, pet them and they fly away without a bite. now my guy friend who is type 0 not only gets bit, but also gets these God awful, large red areas of the bite site. i feel badly now for laughing at it at first because i’ve never seen anything like that from a mosquito bite. he has a doctors appointment tomorrow…..
Im type 0+, and i get bitten all the time; when nobody else does. High body temp too , so this makes sense for me.
Hi, mosquitoes bite me and my children a lot than others. Do you have any suggestion about this. Thanks.
Only twice in my life have I met someone who gets bitten more than I do. I sheepishly admit that I enjoyed the outdoors much more when I was around these people! I could sit and relax, unmolested, while the other poor sod slapped and twitched and scratched.
And it’s not just mosquitoes that I attract. Deer flies horse flies, black flies, fleas, bedbugs and no-see-ums all prefer me. Bites raise up higher and take longer to abate. I came home from 3 months in Africa joking that “even the butterflies bite.” Once I have accumulated 5 or 6 bites I am so itchy all over I can’t even locate the actual bites.
I don’t know what blood type I am, but even as a child I was always too hot and sweated readily. My skin is acidic. Would that mean I exude the lactic acid some studies are looking at? It seems to make no difference if I have bathed or not, eaten bananas or not, am wearing dark clothing or not.
I know bats, swallows, frogs, and dragon flies need to eat…..but the world would be a better place without these tiny, whiny killjoys.
I’m also an O-. I can be sitting at a bbq and everyone is swatting and getting bitten, and I never get one bite…. My husband is A- and never gets bitten either. After reading everyone’s comments it seems you are less likely to be bitten if you are an O.
I have been known to get as many as 30 mosquito bites in one night. I was outside with my friends for the 4th and got 10 bites. I was sitting in the smoke of a bonfire and no one else walked away witha single bite. I am O+.
I completely disagree with the blood type theory. My father and I both have A+ blood. I had just recently come home from a family vacation in the caribbean; I have over 160 bug bites on my legs and arms while my father only has 2 bites.
Thank you. That was useful. Im blood type AB and I get at least 4 mosquito bites per day. If I lived on a farm, I would get eaten by mosquitoes. (Its a good thing I don’t live on a farm :))
Acctually, im AB+.
I am type A- and get bit alot and get huge red welts. Washing with soap and water and then applying caladryl clear seems to be the only thing that takes away the initial burn and itching. My husband is O+ and hardly ever gets bitten. My father also was a mosquito magnet getting big welts. I hate using repellent since it seems to cause acne breakouts. (the undergrounders that just hurt and are watery) I don’t know which is worse. Sheesh. I love summer but hate those little buggers.
Why would anyone trust an article on mosquitoes that mistakenly used a picture of a freaking CRANE FLY as the image?????? They are probably wrong about everything else!!
For Mike at #5, I knew that yours would be one of the lamest comments here as soon as you stated about “mosquitoes feed their young.” Dude… take a class.
B+. I get hammered daily here in Colorado. Same as a kid and young adult living in humid East Texas. Surely science and the pharmaceuticals can join hands and produce something that we can consume that will then be a part of our blood-markers and not only deter the mosquitos but mortally impact them. But then what would we do with all those insect repellents and deterrents that we spend a fortune on and enjoy spraying ourselves with (surely over time this will harm our atmosphere and our lungs???)?
I have always been eaten alive by the buggers. I used to go thru tons of benedryl spray for the itch. I have found the best solution for the itching. Anti itch ointment which is actually just hydro cortisone. It takes a little while to stop the itching but I usually only have to apply once.
I am blood tyoe AB, and always get bitten. Blood typeAB is supposed to repel mosquitoes. WHY DO THEY BITE ME THEN?!?!?!
These idiots that are denouncing the blood type theory because they are an O blood type and never get bitten, PLEASE REREAD THE ARTICLE AS IT STATES YOU ALSO HAVE TO HAVE THE GENE FOR THE MARKERS, and if you don’t (which obviously you don’t) then that would explain why you don’t get bitten. Please don’t try to make points if you can’t even understand the article to begin with. Ugh.