Scientists and laypeople alike have long wondered why mosquitoes are more attracted to some people than others. Growing evidence suggests that a person's unique odor plays a large role in determining how alluring they are to the insects, with several odorants identified that act as mosquito attractants. Now, the sour scents of carboxylic acids can be added to that list, researchers at Rockefeller University reported yesterday (October 18) in Cell.
Omar Akbari, a cell and molecular biologist at the University of California, San Diego, who was not involved with the work, tells Scientific American that the study could help with formulating mosquito repellants in the future.
Anecdotally, many people will say that they are “mosquito magnets” as compared to others who rarely get bitten at all.
“The question of why some people are more attractive to mosquitoes than others—that’s the question that everybody asks you,” Leslie Vosshall, a study coauthor ...
