Mosquitoes Pick Out Human Meals With Help From Microbes

Mosquitoes like some people better than others, and differences in the microbes living on our skin may help explain the bloodsuckers' dining preferences. It turns out men with a large variety of microbes living on their skin make for less attractive meals for the African malaria-carrying mosquito. The mosquito instead appears drawn to men whose skin bacteria are relatively similar to each other.

The logic behind the effect is simple: Odors from human skin are essential cues that guide mosquitoes to our skin, and the microbes living on our skin play an important role in producing these odors. In fact, without skin bacteria, human sweat would be odorless to the human nose.