By far, the deadliest animal to humans is not the snake or the shark. It’s the MOSQUITO.
Known to transmit parasitic and viral diseases like Malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya, Yellow fever, they are the reason for 7-10 lakh deaths per year.
But, why do mosquitoes bite some people more frequently than others?
My daughter always complains that the mosquitoes bite her much more than her brother. When she was a child, I would always reply that her blood was probably sweeter. But she doesn’t take that for an answer now. So a little digging has got me to a few probable reasons which I would like to share.
There are different types of mosquitoes, only some of which bite people. And it is only female mosquitoes that bite since they need blood as a source of protein for their eggs.
To get it, they pierce the skin of their chosen host using their needle-like proboscis, resulting in a bite that may itch and swell.
Mosquitoes are attracted by the CO2, heat, lactic acid (released during exercise) and moisture emitted by humans.
Factors that may predispose to increased mosquito bites:
Individuals with a higher microbial diversity on the skin are less attractive to mosquitoes and may therefore receive fewer bites. So, it would be prudent to avoid indiscriminate use of antibacterial soaps.
People with a blood group O are twice as likely to be bitten as compared to those with group A. But the severity of malaria is far less in an O group person than in others.
Also, other factors like our personality, immune system, and behaviour determine how we react to the bite.
Wearing dark coloured clothes tend to attract mosquitoes.
A study also found that people who had consumed beer were more attractive to mosquitoes than people who had not.
Mosquitoes appear to be more attracted to pregnant women than non-pregnant ones. This may be because pregnant women have a high body temperature and exhale more carbon dioxide.
As most of the factors above are beyond our control and mosquito bites are inevitable, the best that we can do is just request them to suck our fat, and not our blood.
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