Murugesu is a journalist by the name of jason arunn.
The Aedes aegypti mosquito is attracted to people with more carboxylic acids.
The man is Tacio Philip Sansonovski.
Some people are more attractive to mosquitoes than others because of an acidic byproduct produced by skinbacteria.
Eight people were asked to wear nylon sleeves for six hours by Maria Elena De Obaldia and her colleagues.
In a series of experiments, nylon swatch worn by each individual were placed in one of two boxes, with the second box containing fabric worn by another of the participants
Two boxes were attached to a third box. Female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are a major carrier of infections.
Researchers analysed which of the two boxes attracted the most mosquitoes. If their findings were consistent, they repeated the experiment.
People with high levels of carboxylic acids in their body odour were found to be the most attractive to the insects. The carboxylic acids produced by the skin'sbacteria are a result of sebum.
According to De Obaldia, the team didn't categorize the chemicals in the participants' body odours. Other factors such as body temperature and exhaled carbon dioxide have been linked to mosquito biting.
It's not possible to change the amount of carboxylic acids we produce in order to not be bitten. De Obaldia says that human skin odour may be affected by genetics. It is not likely to be caused by short-term factors that are constantly changing.
Our body odor is caused by skinbacteria. De Obaldia says that the organisms can't be easily removed. The skin is repopulated by skin microbes when we wash it.
The team did another experiment with genetically modified mosquitoes that have a reduced ability to sense acids. The insects could still distinguish fabrics from mosquito magnets even though the percentage of mosquitoes attracted to nylon was much lower.
According to De Obaldia, this shows that mosquitoes are choosing who to bite based on the smell of our skin. When one pathway is disrupted, the relevant molecule can still be detected by a different pathway.
It's not clear why mosquitoes are attracted to one human over another. She says that mosquitoes can get good bloodProtein to support egg development from humans.
George Christophides at Imperial College London says that the discovery will lead to the development of genetically modifying mosquitoes to prevent them from biting people and spreading disease.
There is a journal reference called Cell.
There are more on this topic.
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