According to an American study, mosquitoes use “receptors” to detect the smell of particularly “welcome” human skin.
Do you feel like a mosquito’s favorite prey? Science has discovered that it may not be a coincidence. As a reminder, bites always come from female mosquitoes. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine (United States) claim to have identified receptors in mosquitoes located on the nerve cells of their feelers. This would allow these insects to fine-tune their ability to detect certain odors”hospitableon human skin. Moreover, mosquitoes can tell the difference between animals and humans with these feelers.
“Understanding the molecular biology of mosquito odor detection is key to developing new ways to prevent bites and the costly diseases they cause.“, exposes the scientist Christopher Potter in the university’s press release. Before concluding: “Taste receptors detect carbon dioxide. Ionotropic receptors respond to acids and amines, compounds found on human skin. It is thought that different levels of certain acids on human skin may be a reason why some people are more attractive to mosquitoes than others.“.
Blood types and favorite colors
In recent years, many studies have analyzed mosquitoes to find out the reasons why some people are bitten more often, as summarized by Ouest France. While some scientists have found that the higher the body temperature, the more frequent the bites, others have found that human carbon dioxide emissions also attract these insects more.
Another study already showed that red, orange, black and cyan blue are the colors that mosquitoes like best. Finally, those belonging to blood groups O and A would also be more preferred targets than those belonging to group B.