What Makes You A Mosquito Magnet?

Why Are Mosquitos Attracted to Some People?

At Crystal Clear Home we take care of many parts of your home including even outdoor areas, so with summer coming we thought understanding why some people get bit by mosquitos more than others would be helpful.

Knowing why mosquitos are attracted to some people more than others, lets you get ahead of one of late spring’s through early fall’s outdoor annoyances. Unfortunately mosquitos are not just annoying but they carrying disease also. There is a a long list of illnesses that are spread by mosquitos according to many experts, Zika virus, West Nile Disease, dengue, malaria to name a few according to the CDC.

For most of us a mosquito bite or mosquito bites are just an annoyance that we would like to avoid. The two most important factors in a mosquitos being attracted to you has to do with sight and smell. So lets look at what makes some of us more attractive to mosquitos than other people:

Blood Type:

Mosquitos are little vampires, they love blood, that’s what they feed on. Blood and nectar are their favorite foods to ingest. Adult mosquitos live on nectar, but female mosquitos mainly rely on blood for food and for production their eggs. So some blood types are more desirable than others to female mosquitos. So the blood type that is most prevalent is O-Positive blood type and the blood type that mosquitos are most attracted to. Type O blood types positive and negative are nearly twice as likely to get bit than people that have Type A blood. 85% of people give off a secretion that actually tells mosquitos what blood type they are.

Apparel Color:

Mosquitos use their eyes to target their victims, uck! Mosquitos are one of the most highly visual bugs. Especially late afternoon and into early evening, mosquitos favorite feasting time they rely on their eyes to target their prey. When you wear dark colors or red, it makes you a much easier target for the mosquito.

Carbon Dioxide:

This is where smell comes in for mosquitos finding their targets. Mosquitos locate their targets by smelling carbon dioxide that is emitted through our breath. Mosquitos can detect carbon dioxide as far as 164 feet away according to the Smithsonian. People who exhale more someone playing sports or running will exhale more than someone sedentary. Larger people also emit more carbon dioxide that their slimmer counterparts because they exhale more.

Exercise & Metabolism:

Mosquitos can detect lactic acid, uric acid and ammonia and other compounds that are given off by our sweat glands. Mosquitos love people with higher body temperatures because strenuous exercise raises your body temperature plus it raises lactic acid both of which make you stand out to mosquitos.

Skin Bacteria:

Most of us have a higher concentration of skin bacteria around our ankles and feet, hence why mosquitos are drawn to that area of body to feast on our blood.

Beer Drinking:

One 12-ounce bottle of beer can make you more attractive to mosquitos, welcome to the backyard barbecue feast zone! Scientists figured that it might have something to do with increased ethanol content in sweat and higher skin temperature from drinking the brew, but were unable to draw an exact correlation, just that it seemed to play out that way with mosquitos.

Pregnancy:

In many studies roughly twice as many pregnant women have been found to attract mosquitos than their non-pregnant counterparts. When you’re pregnant you exhale more because of increased body weight and less room at different times in your pregnancy for lung expansion. So with more exhaling, in fact 21% more, comes more carbon dioxide being emitted making you a mosquito magnet.

Since most of us spend more times outdoors during our great Sonoma county spring, summer and fall we thought finding out what makes mosquitos more attracted to you would help you dodge the little biting critters easier. Next month we’ll give you some tips on natural mosquito repellents, making your yard less attractive to mosquitos and more. Make you summer more carefree and let our team at Crystal Clear Home clean your home this summer and really enjoy those long days after work instead of cleaning house. Give us a call to see what specials we have to offer.