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Problem: there is no lasting solution to reverse the situation.
You may have already noticed, in an empirical way, that some people are real mosquito magnets, while others do not seem to be interested in these insects at all.
You have also heard many hypotheses on the reasons for the inequality of humans in front of the mosquitoes’ assaults. These hypotheses coexist to try to explain this injustice.
You have probably heard that being a woman, having a particular blood type, having a high glucose level, or eating certain foods are all reasons for inequality. These reasons are regularly mentioned without ever having been proven.
According to a study conducted by two researchers at Rockefeller University in New York and published in the scientific journal Cell, the answer to this question may simply be found on our skin.
For three years, eight participants agreed to wear nylon stockings on their forearms for six hours a day. Leslie Vosshall and Maria Elena De Obaldia then placed the anonymized socks in a Plexiglas box, released mosquitoes into the box, and held a “tournament” to determine whether some socks attracted more insects than others.
The discrepancies were striking. Subject 33 was the unluckiest of the group: his nylon stockings attracted 100 times more mosquitoes than those of the subject deemed least attractive to the Diptera. They also attracted four times more mosquitoes than the second most attractive participant. The conclusion was confirmed by the rest of the study, in which 56 new subjects participated without ever succeeding in robbing subject 33 of his title “mosquito magnet.”
After confirming that we are not all equal when faced with mosquito bites, the researchers explored the causes of such a difference.
The researchers classified the participants into groups according to their attraction power and established that the “mosquito magnets” produced more carboxylic acid than the others. This substance is present in the sebum on the surface of the skin and is used by the bacteria in our epidermis to produce our body odor.
This power of attraction to mosquitoes does not change over time, nor after a change of habits. In other words, once a mosquito magnet, always a mosquito magnet. More bad news for those concerned: the study shows that any attempt to disguise our smell to divert the attention of mosquitoes is likely to fail.
For female mosquitoes, collecting blood is a prerequisite for the reproduction and survival of their species. They, therefore, have an extremely complex olfactory system and a multitude of backup plans in case of malfunction.
During the experiment, mosquitoes whose genes had been modified to damage their sense of smell also went in priority to subject 33.
So, once a mosquito magnet, always a mosquito magnet?
There is still hope, however. More complicated to implement than a simple smear of citronella, it lies in the manipulation of our skin microbiomes. “It is possible that coating one’s skin with sebum taken from a person whose power of attraction to mosquitoes is weak could make it possible to mask their presence,” suggest the researchers.
For the moment, no study has been conducted to confirm this hypothesis. If you fall into the category of mosquito magnets like subject 33, you will now know Why thanks to science, but you will have to be patient while science searches for solutions to protect you permanently.
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