Why are some people more prone to mosquito bites than others?
Many people have probably experienced this: 'Mosquitoes keep swarming around me, but not so much around someone nearby.' Scientists have revealed various facts to answer the question of why some people are more prone to mosquito bites than others.
Cyphers and cycles – A chemical basis of the differential attraction of mosquitoes to human odor: iScience
Mushroom alcohol makes some women more attractive to mosquitoes than others | slu.se
https://www.slu.se/en/news/2026/04/mushroom-alcohol-makes-some-women-more-attractive-to-mosquitoes-than-others/
Scientists Reveal Why Mosquitoes Bite Some People More Than Others : ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-reveal-why-mosquitoes-bite-some-people-more-than-others
Regarding the idea that 'some people are more susceptible to mosquito bites than others,' Frédéric Simard of the French National Institute for Development Studies (IRD) states, 'This is not a misconception. Some people attract more mosquitoes than others. However, we are not always like magnets that attract mosquitoes.'
Female mosquitoes that feed on blood use clues such as scent, heat, and carbon dioxide in the breath they exhale to find their human targets. It is said that mosquitoes have precisely tuned receptors on their bodies to detect these signals.
Professor Rickard Ignell , who studies mosquitoes at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, explains, 'It has been known for over 100 years that mosquitoes are attracted to the carbon dioxide exhaled by humans. This is the first signal that triggers action even if the mosquito is tens of meters away.'
Furthermore, mosquitoes can begin to detect human scent from about 10 meters away, and this scent, combined with carbon dioxide, further attracts them to humans. As they get closer, they can sense human body heat and then pierce the skin to suck blood.
On the other hand, there is a theory that people with blood type O are more likely to be bitten by mosquitoes, but there is no scientific basis for the idea that mosquitoes prefer a particular blood type. Simard said, 'Several studies have been conducted on blood type, but the number of subjects is very small. It is not related to skin color, eye color, or hair color.'
Apparently, the 'scent' a person emits is particularly relevant to whether or not they attract mosquitoes. Simard explains, 'The mixture of molecules produced by our microbiome is more or less attractive to mosquitoes.'
Humans emit between 300 and 1000 different odor-causing substances, but Ignell and his research team conducted an experiment to investigate which substances attract mosquitoes. In the experiment, 42 women, including pregnant women, were subjects, and
The experiment identified 27 volatile compounds that determine whether or not a substance attracts mosquitoes. The subjects who were highly attractive to mosquitoes included women in the second trimester of pregnancy, and it was reported that these women's body odor contained high levels of 1-octen-3-ol , a compound produced when sebum is broken down.
Ignell stated, 'We've known quite a bit about the scent components that mosquitoes use to find humans. But our research is the first to chemically explain why mosquitoes are attractive to different people.' Incidentally, 1-octen-3-ol is also known as 'matsutakeol' or 'matsutake alcohol' because it contributes significantly to the scent of matsutake mushrooms.
There are many other factors known to attract mosquitoes. Several studies have shown that drinking beer attracts mosquitoes because it raises body temperature, increases the amount of carbon dioxide in your breath, and alters the scent of your skin.
Simar mentioned that the range of disease-carrying mosquitoes is expanding and recommended wearing loose clothing that covers the skin, using mosquito nets in mosquito-infested areas, and using insect repellent sprays to prevent mosquito bites. 'This risk is affecting more and more people,' he commented. 'Try to eat light meals and limit alcohol consumption.'
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