Mosquitoes find love in ‘naked’ women?

By GARDY CHACHA

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Who can deny the fact that mosquitoes are a nuisance? They disturb your sleep and irritate your eardrums with a pathologically sickening tune.

And for those who did not know, only the females bite – male ones behave like they have better things to do but it’s only that they don’t need the blood.

Most of the time mosquitoes are vegetarian; living off nectar from flowers. But in order to produce and lay eggs, they need several types of nutrients and in good amounts.

This is what brings them to humans (mostly women) in order that they suck the nutritious blood meal from veins.

If you thought that only humans have ‘swag’, think again. Mosquitoes are actually fussier than we thought: They love women and the reason behind it is almost similar to that of human males. Women tend to expose more flesh… even during the cold season (it is hard to understand why).

Numerous studies – including one published by world renowned mosquito expert Dr James Logan of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in the journal BioMed Central in 2010 – are showing that mosquitoes prefer some people to others.

Mosquitoes use a range of techniques to find prey. But one of the most important is the presence of carbon dioxide – the invisible, odourless gas we breathe out. There is some evidence that people who are large, tall or fat are at greater risk of mosquito bites simply because they are bigger, according to the study by Dr Logan.

Going for a big host, with lots of exposed skin, is not a bad strategy for the mosquitoes as larger people have more surface area – and women expose theirs a lot.

On the extreme end, pregnant women get twice as many bites as non-pregnant women. This however is not because they expose more flesh but because hormonal changes lead to higher body temperatures and metabolic rates, both which lead to carbon dioxide production.

The ‘mozzies’ use carbon dioxide to detect a suitable donor. Because women flaunt more skin and hence more carbon dioxide pores, the insects find that irresistible.