People who drink beer are more attractive to mosquitos, study reveals

"A team from Radboud University in The Netherlands recruited 500 people at a music festival to be exposed to thousands of female mosquitos. All participants filled out a questionnaire about their hygiene, diet and behaviour at the festival, before placing their arm into a custom-designed cage filled with the pesky insects. The cage had tiny holes so the mosquitos could smell the person's arm but couldn't get to them, while a video camera recorded how many of the insects attempted to bite them."

"In bad news for those who enjoy a pint, participants who drank beer were 1.35 times more attractive to mosquitos than those who didn't. The insects were also more likely to target people who had slept with someone the previous night, but avoided people who wore sunscreen or who had recently showered. 'We found that mosquitos are drawn to those who avoid sunscreen, drink beer and share their bed,' the researchers said."

"'We live in a world split between mosquito magnets and those lucky enough to remain (nearly) untouched. The reasons why some people attract more mosquito bites than others remain largely mysterious. Among the participants, mosquitos showed a clear fondness for those who drank beer over those who abstained from the liquid gold. Attraction was also contagious: participants that successfully lured a fellow human into their tent the previous night also proved more enticing to mosquitos.'"

Researchers exposed 500 music-festival attendees to thousands of female mosquitos while recording insect attraction to each person's arm inside a ventilated cage. Participants completed questionnaires on hygiene, diet and recent behaviour. Mosquitos showed 1.35 times greater attraction to participants who drank beer compared with abstainers. Mosquitos were more likely to target people who had slept with someone the previous night and less likely to target people who wore sunscreen or had recently showered. The study notes that mosquitos detect carbon dioxide to locate hosts, while individual body odour determines which person the insects choose to bite.

Read at Mail Online