Your Skin Chemistry May Decide Which Mosquito Species Bites You Most

Researchers report in the July 30 issue of the journal iScience that different mosquito species are attracted to, or repelled by, specific people based on their body chemistry and skin microbiome. Understanding how mosquitoes choose their hosts could help prevent the spread of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, West Nile and yellow fever.

Neurogeneticist Matthew DeGennaro of Florida International University and colleagues recruited 119 volunteers and exposed three mosquito species to each person's scent. For the day-feeding Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, volunteers placed an arm inside a device that let the mosquitoes smell them without biting. For the night-feeding Culex quinquefasciatus, volunteers wore a nylon sleeve for several hours to capture their scent. The researchers measured how many mosquitoes of each species were drawn to investigate.

The team found that each mosquito species preferred a different group of volunteers. Aedes aegypti showed a slight but meaningful preference for men over women, and no single volunteer strongly attracted all three species.

Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus tended to prefer people with less overall skin odor, while Aedes albopictus was drawn to 13 chemicals with plant-like odors. Certain skin bacteria — including Corynebacterium kefirresidentii, Cutibacterium granulosum and a strain of Staphylococcus epidermidis — were present in all three of the species' most-attractive volunteer groups.

The team next plans to study how skin bacteria produce these odors, said Florida International University mosquito neurobiologist Kaylee Marrero, which could help researchers develop microbe-based repellents or lures for traps.