Study finds why some people are ‘mosquito magnets’ and might remain that way

A recent study published in the journal Cell, suggests that some people really are “mosquito magnets” and it is probably linked to the way they smell. According to the researchers, every person has certain body odours and this unique scent profile comprises different chemical compounds which make a person more or less attractive to a mosquito.

The research published on Tuesday indicates that mosquitoes were most drawn to people whose skin produces high levels of carboxylic acids. “If you have high levels of this stuff on your skin, you’re going to be the one at the picnic getting all the bites,” said author Leslie Vosshall of Rockefeller University in New York. The neurobiologist and mosquito expert also pointed out that there was a lot of folklore on the subject of some people being mosquito magnets but not enough evidence.

Furthermore, even after scientists had previously theorised the body odour phenomenon they have not been able to confirm which specific odours the mosquitoes prefer, said Vosshall. Therefore, the authors of the study set out to test this phenomenon and designed an experiment, said a senior scientist at the biotech company Kingdom Supercultures and lead author of the study, Maria Elena De Obaldia.

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The lead author said that 64 volunteers chosen for the study were asked to wear nylon stockings around their forearms for at least six hours after which they captured each person’s unique smell. Subsequently, they cut out pieces of nylon and placed two samples from different participants at the end of a long tube in a closed container full of female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which spread diseases like yellow fever, Zika and dengue.

The research went on for months and they even collected new samples from the volunteers when needed, said Vosshall. The study concluded that some people were more attractive to the mosquitoes than others and dubbed Subject 33 (a participant in the study) as the biggest mosquito magnet whose scent was notably 100 times more attractive to the mosquitoes than the least attractive subject.

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Subsequently, the researchers analysed the participants’ scent profiles to examine the reason for this vast difference and found a common factor that the mosquito magnets produced higher levels of carboxylic acids when compared to their least attractive counterparts. According to Vosshall, these “greasy molecules” help keep our skin moisturised and protected, however, different people produce them in different amounts.

As the study went on for months, the two authors ran the test multiple times and found that the subject’s level of attractiveness to the mosquito remained nearly the same and any personal factors like change in diet or personal hygiene did not affect their rankings, “This property of being a mosquito magnet sticks with you for your whole life—which is either good news or bad news, depending on who you are,” said Vosshall.

(With inputs from agencies)

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