The crazy weather of this autumn 2022 not only gives us unseasonal heat waves but we have to deal with a very annoying insect once only the prerogative of the summer season: the mosquito. We have often heard that it was the type of blood of each of us that made one subject more vulnerable than another (“you have sweet blood”), whether it was a genetic or even a feeding problem. Now, however, a study just published in the scientific journal Cell has found a new key to explaining why mosquitoes accurately choose one person over another.
What the study says
The main reason for the stings would be due to a particular smell of the skin which would literally act as a “magnet”: according to the researchers, some people procure chemicals in the skin that favor the possibility of being bitten by the insect that would not resist that call by “landing” on the skin. To reach this conclusion, despite all the limitations of a study still under development, 64 samples were collected with the smell of the skin of as many people who wore nylon stockings on their arms to avoid being really spiked.
Chemical analysis
The scholars then released some types of mosquitoes by observing what their direction was: well, the choice was mainly towards a type of smell that has been classified as 100 volte stronger than all the others. In the laboratory, the researchers thoroughly analyzed the results and found that the strongest recall was due to high levels of acids on the skin that each person produces in different quantities: as these levels were higher, the greater the possibility of being stings from the insect and vice versa. The responsible for everything is our skin microbiota which produces, or does not, various types of acids, some of which are optimal for mosquitoes.
What is the solution
At the moment, however, the news is not positive: there is no antidote for those who present this problem. “Sand you are a magnet for mosquitoes today you will be one magnet for mosquitoes tomorrow too“, says al Courier Leslie Vosshall, a neurobiologist at Rockefeller University in New York and first author of the study. Research could find out how to change the chemical odors in people’s skin that attract them the most and try to limit them. Scholars have also tried to intervene directly in the receptors used by mosquitoes to attack their prey but with unsatisfactory results. “Getting rid of a single receptor has no effect – added Vosshall – Any future attempt to control mosquitoes with repellants or anything else must take into account how indestructible their attraction is to us.“.