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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
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Your genes attract mosquitoes!

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A recent study conducted on teens concluded that genes do attract mosquitoes. This means that if a mosquito bites your brother or anyone sharing your genes, its next likely target is bound to be you among others.

One of the main reasons of this is the fact that those humans who seem less attractive for mosquitoes to feed on, are the ones who produce natural repellents. Your body odour is the man thing that attracts mosquitoes and the odour is produced by genes.

“If we understand the genetic basis for variation between individuals it could be possible to develop bespoke ways to control mosquitoes better, and develop new ways to repel them,” said senior study author James Logan, senior lecturer at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

“In the future, we may even be able to take a pill which will enhance the production of natural repellents by the body and ultimately replace skin lotions,” Logan noted.

Several tests were carried out with 18 identical twins and 19 non-identical female twins. Results obtained showed that twins identical and similar looking were more favored by the mosquitoes. The extent to which genes play a part — the level of heritability — in the trait for being attractive or not to mosquitoes was found to be at a similar level as that associated with height and IQ.

 

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