One of the most pressing summer issues is the struggle against blood-sucking insects. Do mosquitoes have blood type preferences, and are vanilla and lavender useful against them?
Female mosquitoes are the only ones who bite humans and animals. They land on the skin and use a painful sucking sting to puncture it. Blood is a form of “maternal capital” for female mosquitos, as it allows them to fertilize eggs and lay eggs.
A maxilla (proboscis) and two mandibles constitute the mosquito oral apparatus. The female gropes for the capillary after piercing the skin and begins sucking blood from it through a tube called the labium (lip).
Another “detail” of the procedure is that the hypopharynx (uvula) simultaneously secretes saliva beneath the skin, which has the coagulant characteristic. The proteins in it prevent the blood from clotting, and while the female mosquito feels satiated, the person is unaffected.
That’s why catching a mosquito “at the scene of the crime” is so difficult. However, after some time, the proteins and enzymes in mosquito saliva create a local allergic reaction.
Immunoglobulins rush into the bite zone, with the purpose of neutralizing chemicals brought in from the outside. Antibodies release histamines, which destroy their own tissues while destroying alien proteins.
This causes more damage to the capillaries, resulting in a red area on the skin, followed by a hematoma. Itching begins at the bite site and might last for two days or more.
The more frequently a bite is scratched, the more inflamed it becomes. It inadvertently introduces harmful bacteria by touching the wounded skin. The immune system replenishes the injured area with new detachments of platelets, leukocytes, and histamine proteins. At the bite site, blisters with a diameter of up to 10 mm may form, edema may develop, the body temperature may rise, and a skin rash may develop, among other symptoms.
When a female mosquito bites a human, she injects certain substances into the victim’s blood. Infectious diseases are one type of material that can enter the human bloodstream in this manner. Not all mosquitoes are dangerous disease carriers.
Malaria, Zika virus, West Nile virus, and other infections are among the most severe diseases that mosquitos can transmit.
Mosquitoes can contain Plasmodium malariae, the malaria-causing virus. Fever, occasional chills, headache, nausea, overall weakness, and fatigue are all common symptoms.
A big, thick rash on the skin, fever, high temperature, and redness of the eyes are all symptoms of an arbovirus infectious disease called Zika virus. Infection poses the greatest risk to newborns, as microcephaly can develop in children as a result of illness transmission. Tourists are known to be susceptible to the Zika virus.
The West Nile virus, whose germs enter the human body through the saliva of a bloodsucker who previously fed on the blood of infected birds, is no less dangerous. Once in the bloodstream, they impact the brain and central nervous system, causing severe headaches, fever, swelling of the lymph nodes, and convulsions in the victim. The infection’s consequences can be lethal in the most severe cases.
Numerous studies support the theory that people with blood type O are the most “attractive” to mosquitoes. Scientists first stumbled upon this discovery in 1972, and further studies of bloodsucking preferences showed that people with type O blood are universal donors and are most preferred by mosquitoes.
According to the study, they settled on the skin of people with type O blood almost twice as often as on the skin of people with type A.
One study discovered that those who are “secretors” (emit a chemical on their skin that reveals their blood type) are more likely to be bitten by mosquitoes, regardless of blood type.
Other research has revealed that exercise may make you more visible to flying bloodsuckers due to the lactic acid released in your sweat and an increase in body temperature.
However, the composition of the released chemicals of each individual person depends on the DNA. In addition, the “taste preferences” of mosquitoes can be influenced by the level of metabolism, body temperature, active surface circulation, odors, for example, the smell of sweat.
The higher a person’s metabolic rate, the more carbon dioxide they produce and become more “attractive” to mosquitoes, as mosquitoes use carbon dioxide as a means of identifying food sources.
Therefore, the mosquito is more likely to bite an adult than a child, or pregnant woman.
Ultrasonic devices are truly the most effective mosquito control available today. They are lightweight and compact devices with a built-in UV lamp. Suitable for indoor and outdoor use. Among them, there are, for example, those that can be worn on a belt (“repeller keychain”) or wrist (an electronic device in the form of a bracelet).
Lavender flower oil has also been used to repel blood-sucking for a long time. However, only a special species, narrow-leaved lavender, has such an effect. Therefore, you need to carefully approach the choice of essential oil in order to protect against mosquitoes. Lavender oil has a pleasant smell and rarely causes allergic reactions; even small children can use it.
Research shows that the best mosquito repellents are Environmental Protection Agency-registered sprays for use on the body, such as products that contain DEET or picaridin. (Groups like the CDC, Consumers Union and Environmental Working Group offer useful guides.)
As one expert noted, “Many, many studies throughout the world have shown that botanical based repellents provide substantially less protection against biting mosquitoes than DEET or Picaridin.”
Image Credit: Getty
You were reading: Scientists named the most delicious blood type for mosquitoes