What mosquitoes are most attracted to in human body odor is revealed

What mosquitoes are most attracted to in human body odor is revealed

CNN — Anyone who has spent a summer evening swatting away mosquitoes , or a summer day scratching mosquito bites , can agree: Mosquitoes stink. But the smells produced by humans are an important part of what draws mosquitoes to us.

In a scientific report published in May, scientists helped pinpoint the different chemicals in body odor that attract these insects by building an ice-rink size testing arena and pumping in the scents of different people.

Mosquitoes are part of the fly family, and most of the time, they feed on nectar. However, females preparing to produce eggs need a meal with extra protein: blood.

Best-case scenario, getting bitten will just leave you with an itchy red bump. But mosquito bites often turn deadly, thanks to parasites and viruses the insects transmit. One of the most dangerous of these diseases is malaria.

Malaria is a blood-borne disease caused by microscopic parasites that take up residence in red blood cells. When a mosquito bites a person infected with malaria, it sucks up the parasite along with the blood. After developing in the mosquito’s stomach, the parasite “will migrate to the salivary glands and then be spat back out into the skin of another human host