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Fri 24 Jun, 2005 07:34 am
At an outdoor party are you the one that the mosquitoes have already begun feasting on while others seem completely unfazed? "One in 10 people are highly attractive to mosquitoes," reports Jerry Butler, PhD. Researchers have yet to pinpoint what mosquitoes consider an ideal hunk of human flesh. But they do know that genetics account for 85% of our susceptibility to mosquito bites and certain elements of body chemistry that, when found in excess on the skin's surface, make mosquitoes swarm closer. High concentrations of steroids or cholesterol (from efficient processing of cholesterol) on the skin surface attract the pests.
Mosquitoes also target people who produce excess amounts of certain acids which trigger the mosquitoes' sense of smell. Mosquitoes can smell their dinner from distances up to 50 kilometers. Any type of carbon dioxide is attractive, even over a long distance. Movement and heat also attract mosquitoes.
So if to avoid an onslaught of mosquito bites at your next outdoor gathering, stake out a chaise lounge. Since, as you run around, the mosquitoes sense your movement and head toward you. When you pant from exertion, the smell of carbon dioxide from your heavy breathing draws them closer. So does the lactic acid pouring from your sweat glands.
Interesting.
My family doesnt get bit, while I get swarmed...
I have lately begun using some lavender oil & water in a small spray bottle. It seems to be working wonders for me. I can go outside with out being carried off by the little beasts.. hahah
When I was a kid (and still now) - I would play outside in the summer during early evening. When I came in - I would be covered with bites! No one else seemed to have any or they would have one. I would cover my body with that pink calomine lotion before going to bed.
I still get bitten way before anyone else - except one of my daughters - seemed she is also attractive to those little buggers like me.
I've seen this in action. A friend of mine is a mosquito magnet -- one of his kids is, too, the other isn't. The five of us (2 adults, three kids) could be hanging out and the mosquitoes would swarm to those two (dad, one of his kids) and leave the rest of us alone.
those are the best friends to have around.
I wonder if there is a way to alter your diet to make them less attractive to you?
A regular and well-loved poster on Abuzz whose name escapes me (He was a part-time minister from Texas) swore by small doses of sulphur.
I never tried it, but I remember an old folk remedy for spring fever was dosing with sulphur and molasses.
I recomember that advice.
Luckily, the wife is a mosquito magnet, and I get very few bites when she's around, even out here in the midwest.
She's been hospitalized once -- on a trip to Sweden when she was a teenager she was bitten dozens of times on her feet (around 50 each, she says) and had such a reaction that her hosts rushed her in, worried about anaphylaxis.
Raising hand.
I'm a magnet for those miserable useless blood suckers, too.
Can't imagine what it is, since I eat a lot of garlic.
Drats, that abuzz poster name is gonna drive me nuts, Noddy. I know exactly who you are referring to, but the name is escaping me.
By the time they bite me, they are really desparate. Wish I could say the same about black flies and deer flies.
I love garlic too and those blood sucking beasts love me! Maybe it is the garlic. Anyone else a garlic loving mosquito magnet?
I once had an incident in Mexico similar to your wife, patiodog. I was in Mexico when I spied a huge lizard. I needed to get a picture of that guy so I ran quickly right between two big bushes. Who would have known that those two bushes had hundreds of mosquitos in them?! As I passed through, I was immediately engulfed in a cloud of those nasty things. Quick reversal and quick jumping and smacking - I must have been quite a sight. A few minutes later I was covered with little red bumps. Fortunately I was near the ocean and dove in. The salt water helped sooth me.
I was fine until this lady kept telling how her sister or cousin or some other person she knew had about half the bites I did and ended up being rushed to the hospital for some unknown disease. You know there is always some downer where ever you are. My remedy was to go to the bar and have a few margaritas - solves all the problems.
<raising hand, too>
Just got five more bites taking the dog out into the back yard a few minutes ago. I was out there for a grand total of three minutes. Sheesh.
I carry a bottle of Benadryl Anti-Itch spray with me all summer.
A relative in Louisiana shared this mosquito remedy. On your patio, porch, wherever you hang out, set out a white plate, a little water and a few drops of Joy liquid dishwashing detergent. They don't know if it's the white plate or the lemon concentrate that diverts or repels but since using this for the passed few weeks, I haven't been bitten atall. It's been amazingly effective.
If it works in the Delta, it ought to work everywhere else.
Squinney--
Quote:Drats, that abuzz poster name is gonna drive me nuts, Noddy. I know exactly who you are referring to, but the name is escaping me.
When you come up with the name, please remind me. He was such a pleasant guy. Remember, he used to give up Abuzz as his Lenten sacrifice?
_________________
a ceramic white plate?
Or plastic?
I am going to try that suggestion..
Citronella is a mild mosquito deterrant, which may be why the lemon dish detergent works to some degree. Citronella candles surround nearly every outdoor event in this area during skeeter season.
When I used to do environmental assessment, whoever was wearing the darkest clothing always got whacked by the skeeters. Denim's almost a guarantee for getting bit.
Skin-So-Soft from Avon does help a bit.
I used to use a pungent sauna soap that the mosquitoes loved, so I gave up using that.
I have heard the dark clothing tid-bit too.
As for those candles... ( ug ) for me, I have to SIT on it for it to work.
I have also heard just a little lemon in water works well too. I tried it outside my door when I lived in an apt building a few years ago.. had absolutly NO flies!! alllll kinds of mosquitos though.
Citronella candles don't work around here. At least, not for me. I think they just make the mosquitoes mad.
Unfortunately the only thing that seems to work for me is the DEET bug spray - hate using that stuff.
Skin so Soft does nothing. The candles make for a few less skeeters (pleasant for everyone else). Another thing that in general helps keep the population a little lower is to buy that bug spray stuff that you put on the hose. You dose the area around your yard, we have lots of trees in the perimeter, so we squirt in the tree area. Doesn't keep it completely free of the bloodsuckers, but it lowers the amounts.
Another thing I wanted to try that is more environmentally friendly was to buy a bat house. Bats supposedly love to eat these guys. I'd like to hang it on some of the trees toward the edge of our yard.
After testing, Avon's now allowed to market SSS as being a mosquito repellant. Works to some degree for some people.
Quote:Repellents
Repellents applied to the skin and clothing will prevent mosquito bites for one to five hours depending on the person, type, and number of mosquitoes and the type and percent of active ingredient in the repellent. Repellents are available as aerosol sprays, pump sprays, creamsticks, lotions, or foams.
N, N-Diethyl-m-toluamide (Deet) is very effective and widely used as a repellent but it should not be used indiscriminately as severe allergies can develop. Formulations containing high concentrations of Deet, 50% or more, should not be used on children. Formulations containing 5 to 10% Deet will work just as well as those containing 90% or more, however, they will not last as long.
Avon Skin-So-Soft has been widely used as a mosquito "repellent" for a number of years without being labeled. Avon Products, Inc. has recently obtained EPA approval and is now marketing some of its Skin-So-Soft products for use as a mosquito repellent.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2058.html
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