The good bit from the article (not that the methodology isn’t interesting):
What mosquitoes did – and didn’t – like
Each species showed clear preferences when it came to the odors and skin bacteria.
Aedes aegypti showed a slight preference for men over women, while the other two mosquito species did not discriminate on the basis of sex. The reasons for this are not clear, and the differences in odors and skin microbes between men and women were too great for us to tease out any individual factors driving mosquito attraction.
Aedes aegypti preferred people that had less of certain odors like cyclic alcohols, which are ingredients in some fragrances and cosmetic products. But they were attracted to people on whom Staphylococcus bacteria was more abundant. Meanwhile, lower attraction was associated with certain Pseudomonas bacteria.
Aedes albopictus was a little less picky, preferring people with plenty of odors. They particularly sought out people with high amounts of organic compounds called ketones. One of their favorite ketones was mesityl oxide, which has a sweet, honeylike odor. These mosquitoes also preferred people with more skin microbes, particularly when bacteria like Streptococcus intermedius and Anaercoccus octavius were in higher abundance.
But they also avoided certain bacteria, like the Mogibacterium genus. We suspect that these bacteria may produce odors that these mosquitoes don’t like.
Much like Aedes aegypti, Culex quinquefasciatus picked participants that had fewer odors overall. They were attracted to monoterpenes like alpha-pinene, which are organic compounds often found in essential oils.
Interestingly, there were no bacteria that were associated with high attraction for Culex quinquefasciatus, but there was a high abundance of the bacteria genus Actinomyces on the participants that were low attraction to these mosquitoes.
The results weren’t all differences: Some odors and bacteria were attractive across all three species. For example, all three were attracted to participants with the odor chemical ethyl 2-methylbutanoate, a fruity scent often found in fragrances. And all three species were less attracted to participants with lots of the odor 1-penten-3-ol, a chemical typically used in fresh- or crisp-scented products.
We also found that some skin bacteria were attractive across all three species. For example, people with more Corynebacterium kefirresidentii living on their skin were highly attractive to all the mosquitoes.
most likely the more bacteria you have, the likely its pathogenic to the mosquito, or pertubes its feeding. some bacteria wreak havoc insects.
oooh that’s a thought. I thought it was gonna be more like what their poop / excretions smell like because maybe some of them smell like those things they don’t like but now I’m wondering if it’s the other way around?
This kind of research is awesome and important. There are so many mosquito-borne illnesses, and anything we can do to better understand their behaviors (and how they vary across species!) can improve health outcomes and even save lives.
The mosquitoes that bite humans could be eradicated. I don’t know why we don’t do it. There are only a few kinds that do, leaving plenty behind for the bats and birds to eat.
https://www.cdc.gov/mosquitoes/mosquito-control/genetically-modified-mosquitoes.html
Deadliest animal on the planet, by a large margin.
I feel like Homo sapiens sapiens is not getting its due, here.
“Mosquitoes kill around 760,000 to 1 million people each year, while humans kill roughly 400,000 to 600,000 other humans annually”
https://www.isglobal.org/-/mosquito-el-animal-mas-letal-del-mundo
I’m not very proficient in Spanish, so I don’t see where those numbers come from, but they’re clearly incomplete. Traffic deaths alone were 1.34 million in 2023, and unless it was mosquitoes driving…
Not every traffic death is caused by another human.
Yeah but what if you count the killing of all species? Pretty sure that brings us into the billions.
Agriculture alone already kills billions of farmed animals every year.
I can not go outside at dusk. I will get eaten alive.
My daughter could have told them this. Mosquitos absolutely prefer her over anyone else…
Im lazy these days and don’t want to look up what contains or leads to what, anyone know what food you should eat, or type of scents you should wear for your skin microbiome, apparently it works
Strict paleo diet. Wear bear skin that you hunted and skinned yourself.
Absolutely no pineapple, bark, puddles of water.
Mayonnaise works as a repellent but it makes you gay so don’t use too much.
What if I’m already gay?
It makes you even gayer.
It’s the best drug there is.
