Top Tips to Avoid Mosquito’s This Year

Zika, West Nile, Malaria, Dengue … these illnesses are spread by the flying disease-delivery vehicles known as mosquitoes and they are continuing to expand their territories. Along with diseases, mosquitoes and their little needle mouth parts offer no shortage of itchy welts, meanwhile, their annoying hum can keep the soundest of sleepers swatting at their faces all night.

Do mosquitoes fall in love with you daily? I seem to have won the mosquito lottery – they usually don’t want anything to do with me. I’m not sure if I should be offended, or holler from the rooftops. Others aren’t so lucky, studies show that 20 percent of people are especially irresistible. Researchers from the University of Florida in Vero Beach note that some people are “High attractor types”.

The researchers mention there are two factors of mosquito attraction and they have to do with sight and smell. Ok, this may seem obvious to most but mosquitoes are not so easy to figure out…I know there are so many wives’ tales out there like eating bananas, eating garlic, or putting Marigolds around your house, I’m sorry to break it to you but you are wasting your time. Scientists do however think the following factors likely come into play.

1. Apparel
As mentioned above, mosquitoes actually use their eyes to target victims. According to researchers mosquitoes are highly visual, “especially later in the afternoon, and their first mode of search for humans is through vision.” Wearing dark colors (navy, black) and red make you easier to spot.

2. Blood type
It’s all about the blood for mosquitoes; well that and nectar. Adult mosquitoes survive on nectar for nourishment, but females rely on the protein in our blood for the production of eggs. So it’s little surprise that some blood types may be more desirable than others. Research has found, in fact, that people with Type O blood are found to be twice as attractive to mosquitoes than those with Type A blood; Type B people were in the middle. In addition, 85 percent of people produce a secretion that signals what blood type they are; mosquitoes are drawn to those 85 percent more than the non-secretors, regardless of blood type.

3. Gas
Mosquitoes can sense carbon dioxide up to 160 feet away; so the more one exhales, the more attractive they become. Larger people exhale more. Also to note, since human beings exhale carbon dioxide through the nose and mouth, mosquitoes are attracted to our heads, which explains the whole “mosquitoes buzzing about the ears all night” misery.

4. Heat and Sweat
Mosquitoes apparently have a nose for other scents besides carbon dioxide; they can sniff down victims through the lactic acid, uric acid, ammonia and other compounds emitted in sweat. They also like people who run warmer; a hot sweaty human must seem quite delicious to them – couch potatoes, rejoice. Strenuous exercise increases the buildup of lactic acid and heat in your body, the Smithsonian points out, while genetic factors “influence the amount of uric acid and other substances naturally emitted by each person, making some people more easily found by mosquitoes than others.”

5. Lively skin
Some research has shown that the types and amount of bacteria on one’s skin can play a role in brining on the mosquitoes as well. Our dermal casing is naturally teeming with microscopic life, and the whole mixture creates a distinct fragrance. In one study, a group of men were divided into those who were highly attractive to mosquitoes and those who were not. The delicious ones had more of certain microbes on their skin than the unattractive ones, but fewer types – a larger community but less diverse. The bacteria factor could also explain why some mosquitoes are drawn to ankles and feet, an especially ripe source of bacteria.

6. Pregnancy
Women with a bun in the oven are probably those least wanting to attract mosquitoes, but alas, some species are evidently more attracted to pregnant women than women who are not. One study in Africa found that pregnant women are twice as attractive to malaria carrying mosquitoes as non-pregnant women; researchers believe it is due to an increase in carbon dioxide – they found that women in late pregnancy exhaled 21 percent greater volume of breath than non-pregnant women. They also discovered that the abdomens of pregnant women were 1.26°F hotter, adding to the mosquitoes-like-warm-bodies component.

7. Beer
Who knew mosquitoes had a taste for beer? The little lushes. In one study researchers found that significantly more mosquitoes landed on study participants after drinking a 12-ounce beer than before. The scientists figured that it was due to increased ethanol content in sweat and skin temperature from consuming the brew, but they were unable to find the exact correlation, just that it happened. So nobody knows why, clearly the crafty pests aren’t targeting inebriated folks as easy marks, but it does seem to be a thing.

Did you know Livingston Farm’s screened in gazebos can build you a truly effective wall of defense from these blood robbing, thieves. If you enjoy the welts, the itching and lathering yourself with DEET, then continue as is, but if you would like some reprieve, come visit Livingston Farm’s fully screened in gazebos.  Hopefully our advice can help you relax and enjoy your summer!