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    Study offers clues into when and why mosquitoes bite

    (news.yale.edu)
    23 points gmays | 16 comments | 22 Oct 24 00:46 UTC | HN request time: 1.433s | 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. aeternum ◴[22 Oct 24 02:46 UTC] No.41910716[source]▶
    Do you have o blood type?
    replies(2): >>41910738 #>>41910783 #
    3. lolinder ◴[22 Oct 24 02:50 UTC] No.41910738[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 #
    4. boomboomsubban ◴[22 Oct 24 02:55 UTC] No.41910772{3}[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 #
    5. htk ◴[22 Oct 24 02:58 UTC] No.41910783[source]▶
    O+. I didn't know blood type could be a factor, thank you for the tip, I'll look into this.
    6. 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.
    7. 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?
    replies(5): >>41910891 #>>41910933 #>>41910952 #>>41910992 #>>41911302 #
    8. scruple ◴[22 Oct 24 03:10 UTC] No.41910842{4}[source]▶
    O- here but I very, very rarely get bitten. My wife is A and gets it very badly.
    replies(2): >>41911055 #>>41911295 #
    9. kkylin ◴[22 Oct 24 03:17 UTC] No.41910891[source]▶
    Possibly both. I've certainly observed mosquitos biting people who say they don't get bitten -- they just don't notice, which may not be a good thing.
    10. pests ◴[22 Oct 24 03:28 UTC] No.41910933[source]▶
    The latter for me absolutely.

    Mosquitoes have never left any kind of mark or bump or bite on my skin.

    I can sometimes feel them biting (injecting? whatever) and I smack/brush them away but that's the most nuisance they cause.

    I've always wondered why.

    11. grahamj ◴[22 Oct 24 03:33 UTC] No.41910952[source]▶
    I think how much they're attracted to you and how much you react to bites are independent. My daughter and I can be in the same place outside for a while and she'll end up with many welts while I have nothing. I do catch them biting me sometimes but she just gets swarmed.

    I'm pretty sure as a kid I got a lot more bites. My kid's a teen so I wonder if hormones play a part.

    replies(1): >>41911303 #
    12. ◴[22 Oct 24 03:43 UTC] No.41910992[source]▶
    13. pier25 ◴[22 Oct 24 03:58 UTC] No.41911055{5}[source]▶
    Also O- and it's the other way around for us. Mosquitos hunt me but usually leave my wife alone.
    14. n8henrie ◴[22 Oct 24 04:51 UTC] No.41911295{5}[source]▶
    Wife is O- and is a mosquito magnet that gets huge welts that take ages to go away. I'm A+ and get bites, but they usually don't last long.
    15. orionsbelt ◴[22 Oct 24 04:52 UTC] No.41911302[source]▶
    I’ve literally seen them chase me and avoid others I am with. I also do react and get welts/itchy, but they 100% are also chasing me more than others.
    16. hetspookjee ◴[22 Oct 24 04:53 UTC] No.41911303{3}[source]▶
    Definitely seems the case here that hormones play a part. When my wife was pregnant she got 100% of the bites. Now we’re having a son and the bites are even again