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    Are you tasty to mosquitoes? Study offers clues into when and why they bite

    (news.yale.edu)
    8 points gmays | 12 comments | 22 Oct 24 00:46 UTC | HN request time: 1.243s | source | bottom
    1. htk ◴[22 Oct 24 02:35 UTC] No.41910660[source]▶
    Mosquitoes always seem to come exclusively to me instead of my wife. I would love to understand this "preference" but unfortunately the article doesn’t really explain it.
    replies(3): >>41910716 #>>41910829 #>>41910840 #
    2. Centigonal ◴[22 Oct 24 02:43 UTC] No.41910697[source]▶
    Here is some of more pre-existing research about this topic:

    https://www.pfizer.com/news/articles/why_are_some_people_tas...

    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8906108/

    3. aeternum ◴[22 Oct 24 02:46 UTC] No.41910716[source]▶
    Do you have o blood type?
    replies(2): >>41910738 #>>41910783 #
    4. KMag ◴[22 Oct 24 02:50 UTC] No.41910737[source]▶
    I'm not very tasty to mosquitos to begin with. I used to have the usual reaction to mosquito bites (slight bump, itching). I grew up near a wetland in Minnesota, so I was no stranger to mosquitos, but after getting absolutely mobbed by mosquitos when I took my wilderness survival merit badge course at scout camp, I stopped reacting to mosquito bites.

    Though, the downside is that I do have less incentive to protect myself if I'm in malaria/dengue/etc. areas.

    5. lolinder ◴[22 Oct 24 02:50 UTC] No.41910738{3}[source]▶
    Is there any reason to suppose that blood type plays a role?

    It's a big deal for blood transfusion but that doesn't automatically make it relevant to mosquito preferences, and TFA doesn't mention blood type.

    replies(1): >>41910772 #
    6. boomboomsubban ◴[22 Oct 24 02:55 UTC] No.41910772{4}[source]▶
    >Is there any reason to suppose that blood type plays a role?

    Yes. https://academic.oup.com/jme/article/41/4/796/885285

    Hardly conclusive, but there is some reason to suspect it plays a role.

    replies(1): >>41910842 #
    7. modzu ◴[22 Oct 24 02:57 UTC] No.41910774[source]▶
    what about individual differences between mosquitos? some people taste good to me too but not others. it doesn't implicate humanity lol
    8. htk ◴[22 Oct 24 02:58 UTC] No.41910783{3}[source]▶
    O+. I didn't know blood type could be a factor, thank you for the tip, I'll look into this.
    9. markus_zhang ◴[22 Oct 24 03:06 UTC] No.41910829[source]▶
    Me too. BTW I'm A so don't think it is the reason. I also heard that blood sugar plays a hand here, but could also be pseudoscience.
    10. cortesoft ◴[22 Oct 24 03:09 UTC] No.41910840[source]▶
    I always wonder, is it that some people don't get bitten or that some people don't react to getting bitten?
    11. scruple ◴[22 Oct 24 03:10 UTC] No.41910842{5}[source]▶
    O- here but I very, very rarely get bitten. My wife is A and gets it very badly.