7 reasons why you are attracted to mosquitoes
Miscellaneous / / December 18, 2021
In our entire history, mosquitoes have killed more people than people themselves have killed each other. Let's figure out which of us is most vulnerable to this enemy.
If you ask who is the most dangerous living creature in the world, most likely, predatory animals, sharks, poisonous spiders and jellyfish and other formidable creatures will come to mind. But if you look at the issue from the point of view of statistics, the main enemy of humanity will be... mosquitoes.
EstimatedThe deadliest animal in the world / Gates Notes The Bill Gates Foundation, the diseases these bloodsuckers spread, kill 725,000 people a year. For comparison: on average around the world there are about 475,000 murders annually. And all sorts of sharks there hardly bring the score to 10. In general, the numbers clearly demonstrate who is the dominant species here.
In general, most mosquitoes are vegetarians, they drink plant juices. But in order to carry and lay eggs, females need protein food, and they get it from the blood. Therefore mosquitoes... mosquitoes... in general, representatives of the fair mosquito sex go out to hunt at night. And here are the factors that increase your chances of falling prey to them.
1. You exercise a lot and have a large physique
Mosquitoes have a developed olfactory system and search for prey mainly by smell. The maxillary palps of bloodsuckers are equipped withMosquitoes Detect Carbon Dioxide / Ask Nature special sensory neurons that capture carbon dioxide, or CO2. This is the main attraction factor for insects.
According toWhy some people are mosquito magnets / NBCnews By Jonathan Day, professor of medical entomology at the University of Florida, the amount of carbon dioxide produced by humans depends on metabolism. People who are physically active and have large muscle mass are more likely to become preyF. van Breugel. Mosquitoes Use Vision to Associate Odor Plumes with Thermal Targets / Current Biology mosquitoes.
In addition to CO2, athletes give off stronger odors of lactic acid, especially during exercise, acetone in the breath, and estradiol, a breakdown product of estrogen.
Mosquitoes love all these scents. They just beckon these vampires like the smell of juicy steak.
Therefore, large people with a high metabolism, athletes and fitness models are always at gunpoint for squeaking bloodsuckers. In addition, large people are trite easier for mosquitoes to notice. In general, protein lovers are themselves a good source of protein.
Solution. Do not play sports. It's a joke, you can train, but you need to wash thoroughly afterwards and not run in places where the midges accumulate.
2. Do you like to wear black
Black clothes look stylish. Many people think so. Mosquitoes too.
The fact is that the eyesight of these insects is not as steep as the sense of smell. Mosquitoes are capableF. van Breugel. Mosquitoes Use Vision to Associate Odor Plumes with Thermal Targets / Current Biology see a person at a distance of about 5 to 15 meters, if you're interested.
Taneshka Kruger, director of the Malaria Control Institute at the University of Pretoria, saysWant mosquitoes to pass you by? Don’t wear dark clothing / Business Insiderthat at the target site they see only huge silhouettes. Dark colors stand out more in their field of vision, so insects fly to see what is so big, black and interesting flickering there.
In addition, bloodsuckers also like greens, reds, and other bright colors, as established byEdgar J. M. Pollard. Maximizing mosquito collections from barrier screens: the impacts of physical design and operation parameters / Parasites & Vectors Edgar Pollard of the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine.
By the way, zebras have evolved on themselves camouflage - black and white stripes that confuse tsetse flies, horseflies and other insects. Japanese researchers have establishedT. Kojima. Cows painted with zebra-like striping can avoid biting fly attack / PLoS Onethat cows painted in this way are also less vulnerable to gnat - apparently, bloodsuckers from such a print are dazzling in their eyes.
Experiments on humans, however, have not been carried out, so it is not known how much the resemblance to a zebra protects against bloodsuckers. If you have a black and white striped sweater on hand, try wearing it and share your results in the comments.
Solution. Soft colors. White, pastel, beige, khaki and olive shades make you less visible to mosquitoes. No, of course, if the mosquito flies closer, he will still guess that you are edible. But he will be more interested in people dressed in black.
3. You sweat and have a fever
Strictly speaking, not only people who play a lot of sports, but also everyone who has increased sweating are under the scrutiny of mosquitoes. Uric acid and ammonia in sweat signalJ. I. Raji. Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes Detect Acidic Volatiles Found in Human Odor Using the IR8a Pathway / Current Biology to fly to the gnat to see what is so tasty there.
It may seem like a spray of deodorant or cologne is enough to fight off the smell of sweat. But as claimsThis Is Why Mosquitoes Target Some People Way More Than Others / Self Dr. Gary Goldenberg, medical director of the Department of Dermatology at Icahn School of Medicine, some perfumes, on the other hand, only attract bloodsuckers more. Mosquitoes find sweet aromas especially attractive.
Solution. To fight with increased sweating, or hyperhidrosis - for this you need to make an appointment with a dermatologist. In addition, it is necessary to wash more often banally.
4. You are pregnant
One study in The Gambia foundR. Dobson. Mosquitoes prefer pregnant women / BNJthat the local gnomes are twice as actively interested in pregnant women.
The researchers hypothesized that this was due to the increased volume of carbon dioxide they exhaled. Also. In pregnant women, the body temperature was increased by about 0.7 ° C. And both of these factors affected visibility to mosquitoes.
In general, the results of this experiment should be double-checked, because only 72 subjects took part in it. But there is some truth here.
Solution. Taking a pregnancy test never hurts.
5. You have the first blood group
Yes, research showsY. Shirai. Landing Preference of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) on Human Skin Among ABO Blood Groups, Secretors or Nonsecretors, and ABH Antigens / Journal of Medical Entomologythat people with the first blood group positive are almost widowed more attractive to mosquitoes than those with the second. The third and fourth on the scale of mosquito priorities are located approximately halfway between them. Live now with this information.
Solution. Since it will not be possible to change the blood group, all that remains is to reconcile.
6. You don't wash your feet
One experimentN. O. Verhulst. Composition of Human Skin Microbiota Affects Attractiveness to Malaria Mosquitoes / PLoS One 2011 showed a strong correlation between the number of bacteria living on the skin and the mosquito's interest in the site. People have the largest colonies of microorganisms on the ankles and feet, so bloodsuckers look at your bare legs with great interest.
Solution. Wash your feet. Do not stick them out from under the covers.
7. Do you like beer
Some experiments show that mosquitoes are more willing to drink the blood of drunk people. For example, in one studyO. Shirai. Alcohol ingestion stimulates mosquito attraction / Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association Scientists from the American Mosquito Control Association noticed that subjects who consumed 350 ml of beer became significantly more attracted to bloodsuckers. Similar results were demonstrated byT. Lefèvre. Beer consumption increases human attractiveness to malaria mosquitoes / PLoS One another experiment by specialists from Burkina Faso.
You may think that mosquitoes just want to get drunk with you, but they are not. There is not enough ethanol in the blood they consume to have any noticeable effect on the insect's well-being. Nevertheless, these insects often drink the blood of drunk people. Apparently, they know something about beer that we do not know.
Solution. Stop drinking, at least - in the fresh air.
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