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Mosquitoes, our much-despised pest well-known for nasty bites, seem to prey on some people in a rather specific way. The mystery of mosquitoes who appear to zero in on particular persons more than others is due to a dualism of biological, genetic, and cueing in nature.
In brief, mosquitoes are attracted to humans due to chemical signals emitted by the body that act as the major attractants such as CO2. Since some people, for instance, due to a high metabolic rate, large body size, and high level of physical activity have higher CO2 concentrations in their breaths than the others, they may attract more mosquitoes to themselves. Furthermore, besides heat and sweating, they also find scents of mosquitoes appealing because of their love for warm and humid areas.
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Genetics also definitely hold a huge importance in the mosquito bite susceptibility of an individual. Marker researches claim that some genetic features contribute to building a person's body odor which likes or deters mosquitos. On the other hand, skin microbiota with different functionalities and presence of various compounds on the skin surface might be a factor why mosquitoes choose one person above the other.
Additionally, studies have shown that people with type O blood are more prone to mosquito bite than type A or B blood people. The existence of specific blood types may cause some mild alternation of skin chemistry or odor so that some particular mosquitoes are searching for these types of blood.
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Besides all that, the environmental components like fabric color, flow of clothing and timings of the day, also affects the mosquito biting behavior. Mosquitoes concentrate to the dark color may be most lively at the dawn and dusk when the humidity level is high and the temperature is lower.
In the last part, mosquitoes' ability to choose a person more than others is determined by a multidimensional interaction that is biological, genetic and environmental that we call 'bug biting preference'. Even though mosquitoes seem to provide bites to some individuals more than the others, through the implementation of preventive methods like use of insect repellents, wearing protective clothes and removing the sites where they lay water on birth, the encounters associated with mosquitoes will be greatly reduced along with their discomfort caused by mosquito bites.