Study: Their smell could attract mosquitoes

A new study finds that some people attract Mosquitoes a lot more than others, and it’s probably related to the way they smell.

The researchers found that people who are most attracted to mosquitoes produce many specific chemicals on their skin. These chemicals are associated with the scent that attracts the mosquitoes.

Leslie Vosshall is one of the authors of the study and a neurobiologist at Rockefeller University in New York. She said: “If you have high levels of this stuff on your skin, it will be your turn picnic get all bites.”

For many years there have been many ideas about who is more likely to be bitten. But those ideas weren’t supported by strong evidence, Vosshall said.

For the study, the researchers designed an experiment in which the scents of people compete against each other.

They asked 64 volunteers to carry themselves Socks around their forearms to pick up or pick up the scent of their skin. The stockings were placed in separate traps at the end of a long tube. Then, dozens Mosquitoes were released.

The mosquitoes came to some traps much more than others. The scientists ran the experiment several times, always changing which stockings were competing against each other. In the end, they discovered a big difference between the stockings. The most attractive stocking was around 100 times more attractive to the mosquitoes than the last place.

The experiment used a type of mosquito that spreads diseases like yellow fever, zika and dengue fever. Vosshall said she would expect similar results from other mosquito species. But to know for sure, more research needs to be done.

By testing the same people for over a year, the study showed these large differences persist, said Matt DeGennaro, a neurogeneticist at Florida International University. He was not involved in the investigation.

“Mosquito magnets seem to stay mosquito magnets,” DeGennaro said.

The researchers found one thing in common factor: Mosquito magnets had high levels of certain acids on their skin. People produce them in varying amounts, Vosshall said. The healthy bacteria that live on the skin eat up these acids and produce part of the way our skin smells, she said.

Research could help find new ways repel Mosquitoes, said Jeff Riffell, a neurobiologist at the University of Washington who was not involved with the study. There could be ways to affect the skin bacteria and change the smell that attracts mosquitoes, he said.

However, he said this would be difficult. The researchers also performed the experiment on mosquitoes whose genes had been altered to damage their sense of smell. But they still flew to the same mosquito magnets.

Vosshall said mosquitoes have ways of finding us even if we change some conditions. “They have many fuse plans to be able to find and bite us,” she said.

I’m Andrew Smith.

Maddie Burakoff wrote this story for the Associated Press. Andrew Smith adapted it for VOA Learning English.

Quiz – Study: Your smell might attract mosquitoes

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words in this story

attract -v. To draw attention to something or draw something to something else

scent -n. a smell or smell

picnic -n. a meal outdoors, often in a park or other natural setting

Socks -n. tight-fitting covering for legs, feet or arms, usually made of nylon

dozen -n. a group of twelve articles

factor -n. a thing or element that has an effect on a situation or event

repel -v. to force or move something coming toward an object

fuse -n. Alternatives, other possibilities

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