If you’re the person at a bbq that mosquitoes always bite then it may not be that your “blood is sweeter” but it may certainly be biological.
House Call Doctor CEO Wayne Ormond says scientists now believe your genes can influence whether a person’s odour attracts or repels mosquitoes.
A team at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine studied identical and fraternal twins. They found that people are less attractive to mosquitoes produce a natural repellent which seems to be genetically controlled.
“By investigating the genetic mechanism behind attractiveness to biting insects such as mosquitoes, we can move closer to using this knowledge for better ways of keeping us safe from bites and the diseases insects can spread through bites,” said senior lecturer in medical entomology James Logan.
“In the future we may even be able to take a pill which will enhance production of natural repellants by the body,” he said.
(The study was published in journal PLOS ONE on April 22, 2015)
