Why Some People Are Prone To Mosquito Bites

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 8-30-2007 | Nic Fleming

[xcamel]

bananas == potasium == more bites.

..from the land of black flies larger than B-17’s...

[Gone_Postal]

Just bring back DDT and spray

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

wow..who knew???

wish we could train these mosquitos to attack only Al Quida!!! they surely must smell!!

[Maceman]

What a great way to test for those who emit the most carbon dioxide, and therefore are guiltiest of contributing to global warming.

Simply kill the people with the most mosquito bites. Voila. Reduce overpopulation, and cool the planet at the same time!

A twofer! I’m sure the UN would vote for that in a minute.

[PAR35]

Just bring back DDT and spray

Third world countries already have. Apparently, it is only a problem in first world countries.

[basil]

Hey, Maceman—I’m one of those people who doesn’t get bitten by mosquitoes-—and you’re wanting to do me in! What’s with that—LOL!

[doorgunner69]

For some dumb reason, I always thought they used infrared sensors. Based my hunch on how there was a certain time in the evening they would suddenly start biting. Thought maybe they could discern bodies better when it started to cool off.

They love me, so it got's to be the funkiness............

[syriacus]

Interesting story. My husband always gets bitten first and the most often. He will be glad to hear this.

[Maceman]

If you don’t get bitten, you’re safe. They only go after the ones with the biggest personal carbon footprints.

[patton]

Tis true - I used to run around the woods day and night, bugs never bugged me.

While my friends would get eaten alive.

[Brizick]

Just bring back DDT and spray

Ah, the good old days . . . we used to run behind the 'bug sprayer' as it went down the alley.

[BunnySlippers]

LOL

[psjones]

Mosquitoes tend to stay away from me, but not so with my husband and son, they, unfortunately, need to keep the OFF handy when we go down to Belize.

[colorado tanker]

I’ve found that summertime gin and tonic seems to make me less tasty to the little critters. I recommend it.

[MamaTexan]

To the mosquito some people’s sweat simply smells better than others because of the proportions of the carbon dioxide, octenol and other compounds that make up body odour. It is those people who are most likely to be bitten.

LOL! Some friends were over and we were discussing the same thing. I TOLD them is was that skeeters had to just find some people 'tastier' than others!

-----

What makes mosquitoes such good transmitters of malaria is that they are extremely good at finding people to bite.

I wonder if the people that mosquitoes find attractive are more or less susceptible to catching malaria than the rest of the population?

[MamaTexan]

I’ve found that summertime gin and tonic seems to make me less tasty to the little critters. I recommend it.

Applied internally or externally?

:-)

[Bigg Red]

I wish they had expalined a little more what causes some people to be more attractive to the the little beasts. I have always been a mosquito magnet. Thank heavens for OFF, which works wonders in confusing the nasty little creatures.

[Orange1998]

That was common in the 60’s.

[acapesket]

Actually this is the basic premise behind “the Mosquito Eater” which recently went bankrupt much to my dismay. I have two of them and they function on the “octenol + carbon dioxide” theory. They work wonderfully well when I can get them lit, we have had a frustrating summer as mine are the ancient model. I am a true believer but I can NOT convince my other half that without them, this has been the buggiest summer in recent history!