Why mosquitos might be attracted to you

Researchers in the Netherlands turned a major music festival into an unexpected laboratory to investigate a question that has long puzzled scientists and bug-bitten individuals alike: What makes some people more irresistible to mosquitoes than others?

For three consecutive days at the Lowlands festival in Biddinghuizen, Netherlands, scientists set up a unique pop-up research site inside a series of shipping container laboratories.

Instead of waiting for their favorite band, hundreds of festivalgoers lined up to volunteer for the “Mosquito Magnet Trial,” a study designed to measure their personal attractiveness to the insects.

Inside the make-shift lab from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day, groups of participants rested their arms against transparent acrylic boxes that had caged mosquitoes.

As the insects responded to the human scent, a camera and computer system recorded mosquito movements and calculated a unique attraction score for each person.

The study, which included over 500 volunteers, yielded a wide range of results, with some people sending mosquitoes scurrying to a sugar feeder while others became instant magnets.

The team’s findings, published in a preliminary report at bioRxiv.org, reveal some surprising links between certain habits and mosquito attraction.

The researchers discovered that festival attendees who had recently consumed beer were 44% more attractive to mosquitoes than people who didn’t, and recent cannabis users were also significantly more appealing to the insects.

Participants who had slept in close proximity to another person the previous night also registered a higher attraction score to the mighty little biters.

However, the team did find a simple way to fend off the tiny bloodsuckers. People who had applied sunscreen were about half as attractive to the mosquitoes as those who had not, suggesting a potential deterrent effect.

According to Felix Hol, a quantitative biologist who led the study at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, Netherlands, the public’s eagerness to participate was a highlight of the project.

“You’d hear loud cheers when a score popped up on the scoreboard,” Hol said in a news release, reflecting on the lively atmosphere. “I was really completely overwhelmed by the enthusiasm for the project and for science in general.”

Hol cautioned that the findings should be interpreted with care, given the study’s unconventional setting and the specific population of volunteers.

Unlike a traditional, highly-controlled lab environment, the festival’s conditions introduced many variables. The researchers also noted that the study population—mostly young, camping-enthused attendees—may not be representative of the general public.

Despite these limitations, the study offers a fun and enlightening look at mosquito behavior and what might make people more or less susceptible to bites.

The results suggest that if you don’t want to attract mosquitoes, “don’t drink beer, don’t smoke weed, don’t sleep with people and put on your sunscreen,” Hol said in the news release. As an alternative, “You can do whatever you want and put on long sleeves,” he said.

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