Rockefeller Study Ties 50 Skin Compounds to Mosquito Pull, With 1 Subject 100 Times More Attractive
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · Aug 18
Rockefeller Study Ties 50 Skin Compounds to Mosquito Pull, With 1 Subject 100 Times More Attractive
1 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Aug 18
Summary
A Rockefeller University study found people who attract mosquitoes most strongly carry higher levels of skin-derived carboxylic acids, shifting the explanation from “sweet blood” to body-odour chemistry.
Eight volunteers wore nylon sleeves to capture skin scent, and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes repeatedly chose among paired samples; one participant, Subject 33, was about 100 times more attractive than the least attractive person.
Chemical analysis linked the strongest attraction to 50 elevated compounds in sebum, including pentadecanoic, heptadecanoic and nonadecanoic acids that skin bacteria help turn into human odour.
The pattern held over several years and in a 56-person validation group, suggesting mosquito attractiveness can remain stable, though the study did not test whether diet or behaviour can change it.
The findings apply so far only to Aedes aegypti—an important vector for Zika, dengue, yellow fever and chikungunya—leaving open whether malaria-spreading Anopheles mosquitoes respond the same way.