Some Are More Attractive Than Others

This year the mosquitoes seem to be particularly bad and I get eaten up every time I go outside. My husband doesn’t get nearly as many bites as I do, even when I wear repellent. Do you have any idea why I am so attractive to mosquitoes so that I can adjust what I am doing?

Actually, it is more a matter of chemistry than anything else. Female mosquitoes are the ones that actually bite. They need the blood for the production of eggs. Male mosquitoes generally hang out around flowers and do not cause much trouble. Researchers have discovered that some people naturally produce a chemical that repells mosquitoes. In fact, they did an experiment to determine which research volunteer was repellent to the mosquitoes and then wrapped the volunteers in foil to collect their sweat for analysis. The hope is to isolate the chemicals that those that naturally repel mosquitoes secrete and produce a natural repellent. My best guess is that your husband has a natural repellent and you do not.